Earth Observation Data Group

Abstract:

Context. It is well known that hydrogen cyanide and formamide can universally be considered as key molecules in prebiotic synthesis. Despite the fact that formamide has been detected in interplanetary and interstellar environments, other prebiotic species are far more abundant, including, for example, formaldehyde. However, several results indicate that formamide can play the role of important intermediate as well as that of a feedstock molecule in chemical abiogenesis. Diverse recently proposed scenarios of the origins of the first biopolymers show that liquid formamide environments could have been crucial for the formation of nucleobases, nucleosides, and for phosphorylation reactions, which lead to nucleotides.Aims.Here we report on a wide exploration of the formaldehyde reaction network under plasma conditions mimicking an asteroid descent in an Earth-like atmosphere and its impact.Methods.Dielectric breakdown using a high-power kJ-class laser system (PALS – Prague Asterix Laser System) along with quantum mechanical, ab initio molecular dynamics, and enhanced sampling simulations have been employed in order to mimic an asteroid impact plasma.Results.Being more abundant than formamide both in interstellar and interplanetary environments, during the era of early and late heavy bombardment of Earth and other planets, formaldehyde might have been delivered on asteroids to young planets. In the presence of nitrogen-bearing species, this molecule has been reprocessed under plasma conditions mimicking the local environment of an impacting body. We show that plasma reprocessing of formaldehyde leads to the formation of several radical and molecular species along with formamide.Conclusion. All the canonical nucleobases, the simplest amino acid (i.e., glycine), and the sugar ribose, have been detected after treatment of formaldehyde and nitrogen gas with dielectric breakdown. Our results, supported by quantum mechanical and enhanced sampling simulations, show that formaldehyde – by producing inter alia formamide – may have had the role of starting substance in prebiotic synthesis.

Abstract:

The 6-month-long 2014–2015 Holuhraun eruption was the largest in Iceland for 200 years, emitting huge quantities of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the troposphere, at times overwhelming European anthropogenic emissions. Weather, terrain and latitude made continuous ground-based or UV satellite sensor measurements challenging. Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) data are used to derive the first time series of daily SO2 mass present in the atmosphere and its vertical distribution over the entire eruption period. A new optimal estimation scheme is used to calculate daily SO2 fluxes and average e-folding time every 12 h. For the 6 months studied, the SO2 flux was observed to be up to 200 kt day−1 and the minimum total SO2 erupted mass was 4.4±0.8 Tg. The average SO2 e-folding time was 2.4±0.6 days. Where comparisons are possible, these results broadly agree with ground-based near-source measurements, independent remote-sensing data and values obtained from model simulations from a previous paper. The results highlight the importance of using high-resolution time series data to accurately estimate volcanic SO2 emissions. The SO2 mass missed due to thermal contrast is estimated to be of the order of 3 % of the total emission when compared to measurements by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. A statistical correction for cloud based on the AVHRR cloud-CCI data set suggested that the SO2 mass missed due to cloud cover could be significant, up to a factor of 2 for the plume within the first kilometre from the vent. Applying this correction results in a total erupted mass of 6.7±0.4 Tg and little change in average e-folding time. The data set derived can be used for comparisons to other ground- and satellite-based measurements and to petrological estimates of the SO2 flux. It could also be used to initialise climate model simulations, helping to better quantify the environmental and climatic impacts of future Icelandic fissure eruptions and simulations of past large-scale flood lava eruptions.