Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars

MSL Science Team; Christopher R. Webster; Paul R. Mahaffy; Sushil K. Atreya; Gregory J. Flesch; Kenneth A. Farley; Osku Kemppinen; Nathan Bridges; Jeffrey R. Johnson; Michelle Minitti; David Cremers; James F. Bell; Lauren Edgar; Jack Farmer; Austin Godber; Meenakshi Wadhwa; Danika Wellington; Ian McEwan; Claire Newman; Mark Richardson; Antoine Charpentier; Laurent Peret; Penelope King; Jennifer Blank; Gerald Weigle; Mariek Schmidt; Shuai Li; Ralph Milliken; Kevin Robertson; Vivian Sun; Michael Baker; Christopher Edwards; Bethany Ehlmann; Kenneth Farley; Jennifer Griffes; John Grotzinger; Hayden Miller; Megan Newcombe; Cedric Pilorget; Melissa Rice; Kirsten Siebach; Katie Stack; Edward Stolper; Claude Brunet; Victoria Hipkin; Richard Léveillé; Sam Clegg; David K. Martin; Michael D. Smith; Sharon A. Wilson; Robert Downs

doi:10.1126/science.1242902

Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars

MSL Science Team, Christopher R. Webster^*, Paul R. Mahaffy, Sushil K. Atreya, Gregory J. Flesch, Kenneth A. Farley, Osku Kemppinen, Nathan Bridges, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Michelle Minitti, David Cremers, James F. Bell, Lauren Edgar, Jack Farmer, Austin Godber, Meenakshi Wadhwa, Danika Wellington, Ian McEwan, Claire Newman, Mark RichardsonAntoine Charpentier, Laurent Peret, Penelope King, Jennifer Blank, Gerald Weigle, Mariek Schmidt, Shuai Li, Ralph Milliken, Kevin Robertson, Vivian Sun, Michael Baker, Christopher Edwards, Bethany Ehlmann, Kenneth Farley, Jennifer Griffes, John Grotzinger, Hayden Miller, Megan Newcombe, Cedric Pilorget, Melissa Rice, Kirsten Siebach, Katie Stack, Edward Stolper, Claude Brunet, Victoria Hipkin, Richard Léveillé, Sam Clegg, David K. Martin, Michael D. Smith, Sharon A. Wilson, Robert Downs

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

113 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

By analogy with Earth, methane in the Martian atmosphere is a potential signature of ongoing or past biological activity. During the past decade, Earth-based telescopic observations reported "plumes" of methane of tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv), and those from Mars orbit showed localized patches, prompting speculation of sources from subsurface bacteria or nonbiological sources. From in situ measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on Curiosity using a distinctive spectral pattern specific to methane, we report no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18 ± 0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95% confidence level), which reduces the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars and limits the recent contribution from extraplanetary and geologic sources.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	355-357
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	342
Issue number	6156
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1242902
Publication status	Published - 2013
Externally published	Yes

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MSL Science Team, Webster, C. R., Mahaffy, P. R., Atreya, S. K., Flesch, G. J., Farley, K. A., Kemppinen, O., Bridges, N., Johnson, J. R., Minitti, M., Cremers, D., Bell, J. F., Edgar, L., Farmer, J., Godber, A., Wadhwa, M., Wellington, D., McEwan, I., Newman, C., ... Downs, R. (2013). Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars. Science, 342(6156), 355-357. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1242902

@article{1a4e219ea77c4fe1b59b069dc7185023,

title = "Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars",

abstract = "By analogy with Earth, methane in the Martian atmosphere is a potential signature of ongoing or past biological activity. During the past decade, Earth-based telescopic observations reported {"}plumes{"} of methane of tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv), and those from Mars orbit showed localized patches, prompting speculation of sources from subsurface bacteria or nonbiological sources. From in situ measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on Curiosity using a distinctive spectral pattern specific to methane, we report no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18 ± 0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95\% confidence level), which reduces the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars and limits the recent contribution from extraplanetary and geologic sources.",

author = "\{MSL Science Team\} and Webster, \{Christopher R.\} and Mahaffy, \{Paul R.\} and Atreya, \{Sushil K.\} and Flesch, \{Gregory J.\} and Farley, \{Kenneth A.\} and Osku Kemppinen and Nathan Bridges and Johnson, \{Jeffrey R.\} and Michelle Minitti and David Cremers and Bell, \{James F.\} and Lauren Edgar and Jack Farmer and Austin Godber and Meenakshi Wadhwa and Danika Wellington and Ian McEwan and Claire Newman and Mark Richardson and Antoine Charpentier and Laurent Peret and Penelope King and Jennifer Blank and Gerald Weigle and Mariek Schmidt and Shuai Li and Ralph Milliken and Kevin Robertson and Vivian Sun and Michael Baker and Christopher Edwards and Bethany Ehlmann and Kenneth Farley and Jennifer Griffes and John Grotzinger and Hayden Miller and Megan Newcombe and Cedric Pilorget and Melissa Rice and Kirsten Siebach and Katie Stack and Edward Stolper and Claude Brunet and Victoria Hipkin and Richard L{\'e}veill{\'e} and Sam Clegg and Martin, \{David K.\} and Smith, \{Michael D.\} and Wilson, \{Sharon A.\} and Robert Downs",

year = "2013",

doi = "10.1126/science.1242902",

language = "English",

volume = "342",

pages = "355--357",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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MSL Science Team, Webster, CR, Mahaffy, PR, Atreya, SK, Flesch, GJ, Farley, KA, Kemppinen, O, Bridges, N, Johnson, JR, Minitti, M, Cremers, D, Bell, JF, Edgar, L, Farmer, J, Godber, A, Wadhwa, M, Wellington, D, McEwan, I, Newman, C, Richardson, M, Charpentier, A, Peret, L, King, P, Blank, J, Weigle, G, Schmidt, M, Li, S, Milliken, R, Robertson, K, Sun, V, Baker, M, Edwards, C, Ehlmann, B, Farley, K, Griffes, J, Grotzinger, J, Miller, H, Newcombe, M, Pilorget, C, Rice, M, Siebach, K, Stack, K, Stolper, E, Brunet, C, Hipkin, V, Léveillé, R, Clegg, S, Martin, DK, Smith, MD, Wilson, SA & Downs, R 2013, 'Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars', Science, vol. 342, no. 6156, pp. 355-357. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1242902

TY - JOUR

T1 - Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars

AU - MSL Science Team

AU - Webster, Christopher R.

AU - Mahaffy, Paul R.

AU - Atreya, Sushil K.

AU - Flesch, Gregory J.

AU - Farley, Kenneth A.

AU - Kemppinen, Osku

AU - Bridges, Nathan

AU - Johnson, Jeffrey R.

AU - Minitti, Michelle

AU - Cremers, David

AU - Bell, James F.

AU - Edgar, Lauren

AU - Farmer, Jack

AU - Godber, Austin

AU - Wadhwa, Meenakshi

AU - Wellington, Danika

AU - McEwan, Ian

AU - Newman, Claire

AU - Richardson, Mark

AU - Charpentier, Antoine

AU - Peret, Laurent

AU - King, Penelope

AU - Blank, Jennifer

AU - Weigle, Gerald

AU - Schmidt, Mariek

AU - Li, Shuai

AU - Milliken, Ralph

AU - Robertson, Kevin

AU - Sun, Vivian

AU - Baker, Michael

AU - Edwards, Christopher

AU - Ehlmann, Bethany

AU - Farley, Kenneth

AU - Griffes, Jennifer

AU - Grotzinger, John

AU - Miller, Hayden

AU - Newcombe, Megan

AU - Pilorget, Cedric

AU - Rice, Melissa

AU - Siebach, Kirsten

AU - Stack, Katie

AU - Stolper, Edward

AU - Brunet, Claude

AU - Hipkin, Victoria

AU - Léveillé, Richard

AU - Clegg, Sam

AU - Martin, David K.

AU - Smith, Michael D.

AU - Wilson, Sharon A.

AU - Downs, Robert

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - By analogy with Earth, methane in the Martian atmosphere is a potential signature of ongoing or past biological activity. During the past decade, Earth-based telescopic observations reported "plumes" of methane of tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv), and those from Mars orbit showed localized patches, prompting speculation of sources from subsurface bacteria or nonbiological sources. From in situ measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on Curiosity using a distinctive spectral pattern specific to methane, we report no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18 ± 0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95% confidence level), which reduces the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars and limits the recent contribution from extraplanetary and geologic sources.

AB - By analogy with Earth, methane in the Martian atmosphere is a potential signature of ongoing or past biological activity. During the past decade, Earth-based telescopic observations reported "plumes" of methane of tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv), and those from Mars orbit showed localized patches, prompting speculation of sources from subsurface bacteria or nonbiological sources. From in situ measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on Curiosity using a distinctive spectral pattern specific to methane, we report no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18 ± 0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95% confidence level), which reduces the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars and limits the recent contribution from extraplanetary and geologic sources.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84885847381

U2 - 10.1126/science.1242902

DO - 10.1126/science.1242902

M3 - Article

C2 - 24051245

AN - SCOPUS:84885847381

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 342

SP - 355

EP - 357

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6156

ER -

Low upper limit to methane abundance on Mars

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