Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Planetary science

Subsurface air flow on Mars

When the atmospheric surface pressure is just right, a temperature difference can drive a continuous flow of rarefied gas through the soil matrix — a previously unrecognized process on Mars.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Surface temperatures derived from an infrared image acquired by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

IMAGE FROM NASA/JPL/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY.

References

  1. Clifford, S. M. & Hillel, D. Soil Science 141, 289–297 (1986).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hudson, T. L. et al. J. Geophys. Res. 112, E05016 (2007).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. De Beule, C. et al. Nature Phys. 10, 17–20 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Neumann, C. Ber. Verh. Kgl. Sächs. Ges. Wiss. Leipzig 24, 49–64 (1872).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Knudsen, M. Ann. Phys. 31, 205–229 (1910).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kelling, T. & Wurm, G. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 215502 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kelling, T. et al. Icarus 212, 935–940 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norbert Schörghofer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schörghofer, N. Subsurface air flow on Mars. Nature Phys 10, 14–15 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2841

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2841

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing