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Published January 1977 | public
Journal Article

Photochemistry of nitrogen in the Martian atmosphere

Abstract

Models are developed for the photochemistry of a CO_2-H_2O-N_2 atmosphere on Mars and estimates are given for the concentrations of N, NO, NO_2, NO_3, N_2O_5, HNO_2, HNO_3, and N_2O as a function of altitude. Nitric oxide is the most abundant form of odd nitrogen, present with a mixing ratio relative to CO_2 of order 10^(−8). Deposition rates for nitrite and nitrate minerals could be as large as 3× 10^5 N equivalent atoms cm^(−2) sec^(−1) under present conditions and may have been higher in the past.

Additional Information

© 1977 Elsevier Inc. Received September 14, 1976. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grants NSF-ATM-75-22723 and NAS-1-10492 to Harvard University. One of us (D.F.S.) acknowledges support from the Kitt Peak National Observatory, where he was employed during an earlier phase of this study. Kitt Peak is operated by AURA under contract to the National Science Foundation. The work was completed at the California Institute of Technology, where three of us (Y.L.Y., T.Y.K., and M.B.M.) were guests of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. We wish to thank Professor B. Kamb and the staff of the Division for their hospitality.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023