MarsThe water disappeared somewhere, but scientists have disagreed for years about where exactly it went.

Data from spacecraft such as Perseverance and Curiosity and orbiting satellites such as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ExoMars show that Mars was once a wet world with active hydrodynamic cycles.

Obviously, it’s no longer there, but where did all the water go?

new paper The results of the study, which collected data from at least six different instruments on three different spacecraft, provide further insight into that question by showing that dust storms push water into the Martian atmosphere, which is actively disrupted throughout the year.

Experts believe there was once enough water on the surface of Mars to cover much of the surface to a depth of several hundred meters. To estimate this, they use a technique called the deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratio.

Deuterium, the heavier isotope of hydrogen, makes up a small percentage of hydrogen atoms in every water molecule. This slightly heavier water (colloquially known as “heavy water”) is less likely to be pushed up into the atmosphere, where it is then destroyed by ultraviolet light and the resulting hydrogen atoms blown away by the solar wind.

Therefore, over time, the ratio of deuterium to normal hydrogen in water increases as lighter and lighter forms of the element are blown away.

Scientists have determined that this D/H ratio on Mars is 5 to 8 times higher than Earth’s D/H ratio. Extrapolating these calculations, Mars would have had enough water, perhaps in the form of ice, to cover much of its surface to a depth of several hundred meters.

To find out where that water went, we need to understand Mars’ seasons.

The Red Planet has an axial tilt similar to Earth, which means it has seasons. However, it also has a more pronounced elliptical orbit, meaning that the “summer” when the planet is closer to perihelion (the point closest to the sun) is much warmer than the other “summer” when the planet is closer to aphelion (furthest point from the sun).

For Mars, this means that summers in the south are much warmer than summers in the north, and scientists have long believed that the process of water entering the atmosphere only occurs during the relatively warm months of the southern summer.

But this new paper challenges that assumption by showing the process of water loss during a very specific type of “rocket storm” that occurred in the Northern Hemisphere several years ago.

As summers get warmer, water loss increases due to processes that inject water into the upper atmosphere. This reduces protection from UV rays, which break down water into its constituent molecules.

During sandstorms in the southern summer, dust is forced into the middle layers of the atmosphere, where it warms the air by about 15°C. Water ice clouds typically form near that height and trap water by freezing the molecules together.

The increased warmth from dust prevents ice clouds from forming, and storms push water up into the upper atmosphere, where it is then destroyed by radiation.

Scientists previously thought this only happened during the southern summer. Still, data from ExoMars, the Emirates Mars Mover (EMM), and the Mars Reconnaissance Probe captured the strongest storms ever seen during the northern summer of Mars Year 37 (2022-2023 on Earth).

Apparently, they triggered the same water destruction processes that were expected in the southern summer. This proves that repeated sandstorms infuse water into the upper atmosphere throughout the year, suggesting that the destruction was not limited to a specific period in Mars’ history.

Related: Mars: Scientists have discovered how blue the red planet once was

Indeed, that rocket storm appears to have been very strong, but researchers believe that in Mars’ past, its axial tilt may have been tilted further toward the sun, which would have facilitated the formation of this type of storm during much warmer summers in the north.

This extra “escape” for water could explain some of the discrepancies between the amount of water Mars currently has, the amount of water we believe it once had, and the processes that are thought to have destroyed Mars.

This article was first published today’s universe. please read original article.