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Originally published in Science Express on 28 October 2004
Science 3 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5702, pp. 1758 - 1761
DOI: 10.1126/science.1101732
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Reports

Detection of Methane in the Atmosphere of Mars

Vittorio Formisano,1* Sushil Atreya,2 Thérèse Encrenaz,3 Nikolai Ignatiev,4,1 Marco Giuranna1

We report a detection of methane in the martian atmosphere by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer onboard the Mars Express spacecraft. The global average methane mixing ratio is found to be 10 ± 5 parts per billion by volume (ppbv). However, the mixing ratio varies between 0 and 30 ppbv over the planet. The source of methane could be either biogenic or nonbiogenic, including past or present subsurface microorganisms, hydrothermal activity, or cometary impacts.

1 Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario INAF-IFSI, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy.
2 Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109–2143, USA.
3 Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, 5 Place Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France.
4 Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) Profsojuznaja 84/32, 117810 Moscow, Russia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: formisan{at}nike.ifsi.rm.cnr.it

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