Past readings of methane detected in the Martian atmosphere by telescopes on Earth have now been corroborated by ESA's Mars Express orbital craft.

 

This find is significant for two reasons:

 

1 - It can only have come from active volcanoes, or life. Since volcanoes are easier to detect by many orders of magnitude, and we have found no active ones in decades of observations, it seems unlikely that they explain the gas.

Active volcanoes being identified as the source would not preclude the possibility of life, since volcanic activity infers heat, which could provide both the melt-water and mineral deposits required to sustain possible Martian anaerobic bacteria.

 

2 - Methane breaks down rapidly in the Martian atmosphere. This means that the detected volumes were recently produced (within about 100 years), and probably being replenished constantly.

 

Read the full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3577551.stm

My own thoughts are volcanic activity but it's pretty cool either way. Wouldn't there have to microbes covering Mars to put that much methane in the atmosphere?

I thought there were tons of volcanoes on Mars, like Mount Olympus and stuff.

olympus mons is dead, so it seems anyway. shouldn't thermal readings be able to give this away though?

No live volcanic activity has ever been observed on Mars, through any means.

not even slightly warmer areas of the surface which could be accounted for by sub-surface heat? I suppose what needs to be done is a proper analysis to see if there are any places where the methane is more concentrated than elsewhere and then look at those areas in more detail. I don't really know enough about chemistry to consider whether there could be alternate sources or even how the methane is produced volcanically.

Very interesting. Is it possible it is the last remenants of volcanic activity that died out long ago, seeping up through the ground in small ammounts?

Assuming no volcanic activity what is the total mass of 'life' that can produce such an methane amount.

I assume it's not a small bit in some hidden corner of mars, right?

To be honest I'm not sure whether or not the geology of Mars would allow for that.

 

The fact that methane breaks down in a very short time in the Mars atmosphere suggests that if it is from volcanic activity, then that activity is ongoing.

And if there is volcanic activity, there could be a possibility of that heat melting the water beneath the surface... and life?

Odd, posted got a thank you and never showed up.

 

Anyway, if there is volcanic activity, that means theres some form of heat. Heat means ice will melt. Water means the possibility of life. But, could life sustain itself without water? Possibly something that generates heat and melts the ice as it needs. Its possible, but the ice would of had to of formed long ago and any form of life would of had to of adapted over centuries of water being pulled out of the atmosphere, which may be possible.

Methane released from volcanoes is due to

 

1) Combustion of oil, coal, etc, beleived to have once been life.

 

2) Volcanic bacteria

 

In any case, if there was life before which is now oil, coal whatever, then there must be life now, as conditions on mars are perfect for many bacteria and extremophiles and must still live there.

 

Underground volcanoes could be responsible for releasing methane now.

Here's another article on the subject:

 

http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=689&category=Science

 

It says methane could last for 300 - 350 years before breaking down.

 

And here's an article that describes the formation of volcanic methane on the Hawaiian Islands:

 

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/2002/02_10_17.html

 

According to the article, the volcanic methane forms when lava encapsulates large amounts of biomass on the surface - so that doesn't apply to Mars either.

 

The third hypothesis is that the methane was brought in by comets.

Extra must have been banned from postin here. It seems like something he would be into.

lol, yea I was kinda waiting for ExtraSense to show up and start blathering about how he's been saying this all along. Darn, I was kinda looking forward to making fun of him