Methane Mystery Deepens - Page 3

Could something similar be happening on Mars? There is a strong possibility IMHO that there is large amounts of ice melting way beneath the surface and gas just finds it way out through a labrinth of fissures and vents.

This is also part of the water cycle I am also sure exists on this planet.

Mars is far from dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8437703.stm

Hey Kevin,
I have noticed in the past you have come up with some of the VERY BEST links.A real asset
to this forum,Keep up the outstanding work.
Joe in Texas

Kevin; I think most would agree that liquid water (some of it quite hot) exists beneath the surface of Mars at varying depths based on the subsurface geology.

IMO the catastrophic erosional features we see are the result of rapid releases, to the surface, of this trapped water at various times in the past

Some images suggest that it is happening in some places today where even with the cold surface conditions ,water (probably hot) is being expelled to the surface for short periods.

This is what is happening on Earth I am sure Mars will not be too dissimilar interestingly the more gas released the more it increases global warming, the warmer it gets increases the amount of gas releaseda and so on.

Are there Martian wetlands?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8459770.stm

More on the proposed joint missions to study the Methane zones with some interesting links, tricky bit is the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will need about a year to get some good data on the potential source of the gas. This means TGO will still be collecting and analysing data when the next two Rovers have been launched, adjusting the landing site in mid flight is going to be a bit tricky if at all wise or possible given the amount of mission failiures suffered in the past.
Earth and Space based telescopes will need to help as much as they can prior to launch, could be very frustrating if we discover after landing we could have been better off elsewhere.

Some interesting links in this article that are well worth a read :

[link]

For years now I've been convinced that liquids flow on Mars to this day. The exact liquid, I'm not sure but I would hazard a guess at ethanol or methanol. I know that methanol is harmful to organics, so is that plausable, any chemistry students? Would that explain the methane cycle too?

Methanol is an interesting idea and could shed some light on the "mars methane mystery" and life...

From wiki article : Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria, and is ubiquitous in the environment. As a result, there is a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. Over the course of several days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized with the help of sunlight to carbon dioxide and water.

The german wiki article is more precise: methanogenic bacteria convert methan to methanol...

Could there be methan using bacteria producing that much methanol (liquid up to -98°C) to cause seepage and maybe some of the dark streaks observed? This would be an explanation for the seasonal methane buildup and decrease as well as many liquid type observations.

Good, I think we're on to something, sounds like it could account for water ice too.

The only other explanation I can think of, would be liquid methane and the methane was changing from gas to liquid depending on surface temperature. only thing is, I'm not sure what those temperature ranges would be given that Mars atmospheric pressure is only 1 percent of that on Earth. I know that water would boil away, but would Methane?

Hi Alan; I like the methanol idea. Simple, elegant. Let's see how it turns out.

Winston

Hi Winston, I'm pretty sure that all these things have been considered by the people who matter but they don't want to admit to the possibility of liquids on the surface, or it seems like that.

New techniques for Earth based telescopes can help detect gases on other Planets including Exo's:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8493674.stm

Testing

Winson