Atmosphere of Mars and southern hemispheres. Mars's temperature difference greatly influences the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, because warmer air can contain more moisture. This, in turn, affects the production of ozone-destroying hydrogen radicals. In early 2016, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars. This was the first time in forty years it was detected, the last time being the Viking and Mariner missions in the 1970s. Molecular nitrogen (N) is present in the atmosphere at 1.9%. Measurements by various robotic missions, and analyses of Martian meteorites, show that the atmosphere is enriched in
Atmosphere of Mars slowly decreased to very low concentrations, with no layer detectable above 35 km. The reporting scientists think that the observed polar ozone layers are the result of the same atmospheric circulation pattern that creates a distinct oxygen emission identified in the polar night and also present in Earth's atmosphere. This circulation takes the form of a huge Hadley cell in which warmer air rises and travels toward the south pole before cooling and sinking at higher latitudes. Mars is on a quite elliptical orbit and has a large axial tilt, which causes extreme seasonal variations in temperature amongst the northern