Upcoming poster presentation at LANL Student Symposium
Published:
I will be delivering a poster presentation at the LANL Student Symposium.
When: Wednesday August 2nd 2023 | 9:00 - 16:00
Where: J. Robert Oppenheimer Research Library, Jemez/Cochiti Room (Poster 22)
Title: Sub-diurnal methane variations driven by barometric pumping and planetary boundary layer dynamics
Abstract:
In recent years, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on board the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has detected methane variations in the atmosphere at Gale crater. Methane concentrations appear to fluctuate seasonally as well as sub-diurnally, which is difficult to reconcile with an as-yet-unknown transport mechanism delivering the gas from underground to the atmosphere. We consider barometrically-induced transport of methane from an underground source to the surface, modulated by temperature-dependent adsorption as a mechanism to potentially explain the fluctuations. The subsurface fractured-rock seepage model is coupled to a simplified atmospheric mixing model to provide insights on the pattern of atmospheric methane concentrations in response to transient surface methane emissions, as well as to predict sub-diurnal variation in methane abundance for the Northern Summer period, for which we propose two strategic SAM-TLS samples during Curiosity’s potentially final sampling campaign.
