Detection of a persistent meteoric metal layer in the Martian atmosphere

• Published in: Nature geoscience Vol. 10; no. 6; pp. 401 - 404
• Main Authors: Crismani, M. M. J., Schneider, N. M., Plane, J. M. C., Evans, J. S., Jain, S. K., Chaffin, M. S., Carrillo-Sanchez, J. D., Deighan, J. I., Yelle, R. V., Stewart, A. I. F., McClintock, W., Clarke, J., Holsclaw, G. M., Stiepen, A., Montmessin, F., Jakosky, B. M.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-06-2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 704/445/824; 704/445/845; 704/445/849; Ablation; Altitude; Astrophysics; Atmosphere; Aérospatiale, astronomie & astrophysique; Dust; Dust storms; Earth; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Earth science; Earth Sciences; Earth System Sciences; Geochemistry; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Ionosphere; Ions; Mars; Meteors & meteorites; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physics; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Remote sensing; Sciences of the Universe; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; Space science, astronomy & astrophysics; Spacecraft; United States > US; Meteoritics; Atmospheric chemistry; Inner planets
• ISSN: 1752-0894; 1752-0908; 1752-0908
• DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2958

Interplanetary dust particles sporadically enter planetary atmospheres at orbital velocities and ablate as collisions occur with ambient gases to produce a persistent layer of metallic atoms (for example, Fe, Mg, Na) in their upper atmospheres. Such layers are well studied at Earth, but have not been directly detected elsewhere in the Solar System. Here we report the detection of a meteoric layer consisting of Mg
+
ions near an altitude of 90 km in the Martian atmosphere from ultraviolet remote sensing observations by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. We observe temporal variability in the Mg
+
layer over the course of a Martian year, moving up and down in altitude seasonally and in response to dust storms, and displaying diurnal fluctuations in density. We also find that most meteor showers do not significantly perturb this layer, which constrains the fluence of eleven observed Martian meteor showers to less than our estimated global dust flux. The persistence and variability of the Mg
+
layer are difficult to explain with existing models and reconcile with other transient layers of ions observed in the Martian ionosphere. We suggest that the transient layers are not sourced from the persistent Mg
+
layer and thus not derived from meteoric material, but are ambient ions produced by some unknown mechanism.
Collisions of dust particles with a planet’s atmosphere lead to the accumulation of metallic atoms at high altitudes. MAVEN spacecraft observations reveal a persistent—but temporally variable—metal layer of Mg
+
ions in the Martian atmosphere.