American Geophysical Union

Contact:
Harvey Leifert, +1 (202) 777-7507,

For Immediate Release: 3 February 2005

AGU Release No. 05-04

Using global warming to create conditions for life on Mars

WASHINGTON -- Injecting synthetic "super" greenhouse gases into the Martian
atmosphere could raise the planet's temperature enough to melt its polar ice
caps and create conditions suitable for sustaining biological life. In fact, a
team of researchers suggests that introducing global warming on the Red Planet
may be the best approach for warming the planet's frozen landscape and turning
it into a habitable world in the future.

Margarita Marinova, then at the NASA Ames Research Center, and colleagues
propose that the same types of atmospheric interactions that have led to recent
surface temperature warming trends on Earth could be harnessed on Mars to create
another biologically hospitable environment in the solar system. In the February
issue of Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets, published by the American
Geophysical Union, the researchers report on the thermal energy absorption and
the potential surface temperature effects from introducing man-made greenhouse
gases strong enough to melt the carbon dioxide and ice on Mars.

"Bringing life to Mars and studying its growth would contribute to our
understanding of evolution, and the ability of life to adapt and proliferate on
other worlds," Marinova said. "Since warming Mars effectively reverts it to its
past, more habitable state, this would give any possibly dormant life on Mars
the chance to be revived and develop further."

The authors note that artificially created gases -- which would be nearly 10,000
times more effective than carbon dioxide -- could be manufactured to have
minimal detrimental effects on living organisms and the ozone layer while
retaining an exceptionally long lifespan in the environment. They then created a
computer model of the Martian atmosphere and analyzed four such gases,
individually and in combination, that are considered the best candidates for the
job.

Their study focused on fluorine-based gases, composed of elements readily
available on the Martian surface, that are known to be effective at absorbing
thermal infrared energy. They found that a compound known as octafluoropropane,
whose chemical formula is C3F8, produced the greatest warming, while its
combination with several similar gases enhanced the warming even further.

The researchers anticipate that adding approximately 300 parts per million of
the gas mixture in the current Martian atmosphere, which is the equivalent of
nearly two parts per million in an Earth-like atmosphere, would spark a runaway
greenhouse effect, creating an instability in the polar ice sheets that would
slowly evaporate the frozen carbon dioxide on the planet's surface. They add
that the release of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide would lead to further
melting and global temperature increases that could then enhance atmospheric
pressure and eventually restore a thicker atmosphere to the planet.

Such a process could take centuries or even millennia to complete but, because
the raw materials for the fluorine gases already exist on Mars, it is possible
that astronauts could create them on a manned mission to the planet. It would
otherwise be impossible to deliver gigaton-sized quantities of the gas to Mars.
The authors conclude that introducing powerful greenhouse gases is the most
feasible technique for raising the temperature and increasing the atmospheric
pressure on Mars, particularly when compared to other alternatives like
sprinkling sunlight-absorbing dust on the poles or placing large mirrors in the
planet's orbit.

Notes for Journalists

Journalists (only) may obtain a pdf copy of this paper upon request to Jonathan
Lifland: . Please provide your name, name of publication, phone,
and e-mail address. The paper and this press release are not under embargo.

Title: Radiative-convective model of warming Mars with artificial greenhouse gases

Authors:
Margarita M. Marinova, now at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
California, USA.
Christopher P. McKay, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA.
Hirofumi Hashimoto, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Citation: Marinova, M..M., C. P. McKay, and H. Hashimoto (2005),
Radiative-convective model of warming Mars with artificial greenhouse gases, J.
Geophys. Res., 110, XXXX [pending], doi:10.1029/2004JE002306, 2005

Contact information for author:
Margarita Marinova
e-mail: or phone: +1 (650) 861-2150