Nitrogen Fixation at Paleo-Mars in an Icy Atmosphere
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1.
Harvard University
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2.
California Institute of Technology
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3.
Jet Propulsion Lab
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4.
University of California, Riverside
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5.
Australian National University
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6.
Space Science Institute
Abstract
Recent findings of NO near Gale Crater on Mars have been explained by two pathways: formation of nitric acid (HNO₃) in a warm climate or formation of peroxynitric acid (HO₂NO₂) in a cool climate. Here, we put forth two hitherto unexplored pathways: (a) deposition of nitric/peroxynitric acid onto ice particles in a cold atmosphere, which settle quickly onto Mars' surface and (b) solar energetic particle‐induced production of nitric/peroxynitric acid. The deposition rates are enhanced and NO production is more efficient under the higher atmospheric pressures typical of Mars' ancient atmosphere. Depending on the unknown rate at which nitric/peroxynitric acid is lost from the surface, the new pathways could result in larger NO‐levels than those detected by the Mars Science Laboratory. We predict a 2:1 ratio of nitrite:nitrate would have deposited in cool surface climates with an icy atmosphere, whereas orders of magnitude more nitrate than nitrite is expected from warm surface climates.
Copyright and License
© 2024. The Author(s).
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Acknowledgement
We thank Dr. Glenn Orton and Dr. Steve Vance for helpful comments on the manuscript. Work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, is performed under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). D.A.'s research is funded by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Grant (HST-HF2-51523.001-A) awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555.
Data Availability
KINETICS output files and Python analysis scripts are available at the open-source repository: (Adams, 2023).
Supplemental Material
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Additional details
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 80NM0018D0004
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- HST‐HF2‐51523.001‐A
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NAS5-26555
- Accepted
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2024-09-30Accepted
- Available
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2024-11-01Version of Record online
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Publication Status
- Published