Mars has long captured humanity’s imagination, especially given the tantalizing evidence of ancient river valleys and ...

New research shows that while TRAPPIST-1b, second from the left, has no atmosphere, TRAPPIST-1e, third from the right, could have a long-term stable atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The stable atmospheric boundary layer (SABL) is a crucial part of the Earth's atmosphere, particularly during nighttime or in polar regions when the surface is cooler than the air above.

In a stable climate, scientists would have multiple decades for the atmosphere to get into its various configurations and drive extreme events, such as heatwaves, floods, or droughts.

“The lunar atmosphere is thus a transient environment, consisting of atoms temporarily lingering above the lunar surface, rather than forming a stable atmosphere like Earth’s,” Nie says.

As Prof. Nicole Nie, lead author of the paper, tells Popular Science, “In lunar soils and rocks, alkali metals are bound in minerals, forming stable chemical bonds with oxygen and other elements.