Mathematics
Scientific paper
Sep 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994icar..111..124n&link_type=abstract
Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 111, no. 1, p. 124-150
Mathematics
135
Absorption Spectra, Abundance, Atmospheric Models, Carbon Monoxide, Mars Atmosphere, Ozone, Photochemical Reactions, Carbon Dioxide, Hydroxyl Radicals, Mathematical Models, Mixing Ratios, Scattering Cross Sections, Temperature Dependence, Vapor Phases
Scientific paper
The factors governing the amounts of CO, O2, and O3 in the martian atmosphere are investigated using a minimally constrained, one-dimensional photochemical model. We find that the incorporation of temperature-dependent CO2 absorption cross sections leads to an enhancement in the water photolysis rate, increasing the abundance of OH radicals to the point where the model CO abundance is smaller that observed. Good agreement between models and observations of CO, O2, O3, and the escape flux of atomic hydrogen can be achieved, using only gas-phase chemistry, by varying the recommended rate constraints for the reaction CO + OH and OH + HO2 within their specified uncertainties. The oxygen escape flux plays a key role in the oxygen budget on Mars; as inferred from the observed atomic hydrogen escape, it is much larger than recent calculations of the exospheric escape rate for oxygen. Weathering of the surface may account for the imbalance. We also consider the possiblity that HO(x) radicals may be catalytically destroyed on dust grains suspended in the atmosphere. Good agreement with the observed CO mixing ratio can be achieved via this mechanism, but the resulting ozone column is much higher than the observed quantity.
Allen Mark
Anbar Ariel D.
Clancy Todd R.
Nair Hari
Yung Yuk L.
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