2009
| Title: | Mars Climate Sounder limb profile retrieval of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and dust and water ice opacity |
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| Authors: | Kleinböhl, Armin; Schofield, John T.; Kass, David M.; Abdou, Wedad A.; Backus, Charles R.; Sen, Bhaswar; Shirley, James H.; Lawson, W. Gregory; Richardson, Mark I.; Taylor, Fredric W.; Teanby, Nicholas A.; McCleese, Daniel J. |
| Affiliation: | AA(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AB(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AC(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AD(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AE(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AF(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AG(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AH(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AI(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AJ(Clarendon Laboratory, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford! , Oxford, UK), AK(Clarendon Laboratory, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK), AL(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA) |
| Journal: | Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 114, Issue E10, CiteID E10006 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 2009 |
| Origin: | AGU |
| Keywords: | Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote sensing, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Instruments and techniques, Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Planetary atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704) |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JE003358http://bit.ly/WsjbOn |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2009JGRE..11410006K |
| Abstract: | The Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the latest of a series of investigations devoted to improving the understanding of current Martian climate. MCS is a nine-channel passive midinfrared and far-infrared filter radiometer designed to measure thermal emission in limb and on-planet geometries from which vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, water vapor, dust, and condensates can be retrieved. Here we describe the algorithm that is used to retrieve atmospheric profiles from MCS limb measurements for delivery to the Planetary Data System. The algorithm is based on a modified Chahine method and uses a fast radiative transfer scheme based on the Curtis-Godson approximation. It retrieves pressure and vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, dust opacity, and water ice opacity. Water vapor retrievals involve a different approach and will be reported separately. Pressure can be retrieved to a precision of 1-2% and is used to establish the vertical coordinate. Temperature profiles are retrieved over a range from 5-10 to 80-90 km altitude with a typical altitude resolution of 4-6 km and a precision between 0.5 and 2 K over most of this altitude range. Dust and water ice opacity profiles also achieve vertical resolutions of about 5 km and typically have precisions of 10-4-10-5 km-1 at 463 cm-1 and 843 cm-1, respectively. Examples of temperature profiles as well as dust and water ice opacity profiles from the first year of the MCS mission are presented, and atmospheric features observed during periods employing different MCS operational modes are described. An intercomparison with historical temperature measurements from the Mars Global Surveyor mission shows good agreement. |
| Title: | Fitting the Viking lander surface pressure cycle with a Mars General Circulation Model |
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| Authors: | Guo, Xin; Lawson, W. Gregory; Richardson, Mark I.; Toigo, Anthony |
| Affiliation: | AA(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA); AB(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA); AC(Ashima Research, Pasadena, California, USA); AD(Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) |
| Journal: | Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 114, Issue E7, CiteID E07006 |
| Publication Date: | Jul 2009 |
| Origin: | AGU |
| Keywords: | Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Planetary atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704), Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mars, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Polar regions, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Ices |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JE003302http://bit.ly/V2IEgh |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2009JGRE..11407006G |
| Abstract: | We present a systematic attempt to fit the Viking lander surface pressure cycle using a Mars General Circulation Model, MarsWRF. Following the earlier study by Wood and Paige (1992) using a one-dimensional model, high-precision fitting was achieved by tuning five time-independent parameters: the albedo and emissivity of the seasonal caps of the two hemispheres and the total CO2 inventory in the atmosphere frost system. We used a linear iterative method to derive the best fit parameters: albedo of the northern cap = 0.795, emissivity of the northern cap = 0.485, albedo of the southern cap = 0.461, emissivity of the southern cap = 0.785, and total CO2 mass = 2.83 × 1016 kg. If these parameters are used in MarsWRF, the smoothed surface pressure residual at the VL1 site is always smaller than several Pascal through a year. As in other similar studies, the best fit parameters do not match well with the current estimation of the seasonal cap radiative properties, suggesting that important physics contributing to the energy balance not explicitly included in MarsWRF have been effectively aliased into the derived parameters. One such effect is likely the variation of thermal conductivity with depth in the regolith due to the presence of water ice. Including such a parameterization in the fitting process improves the reasonableness of the best fit cap properties, mostly improving the emissivities. The conductivities required in the north to provide the best fit are higher than those required in the south. A completely physically reasonable set of fit parameters could still not be attained. Like all prior published GCM simulations, none of the cases considered are capable of predicting a residual southern CO2 cap. |
| Title: | Thermal tides in the Martian middle atmosphere as seen by the Mars Climate Sounder |
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| Authors: | Lee, C.; Lawson, W. G.; Richardson, M. I.; Heavens, N. G.; Kleinböhl, A.; Banfield, D.; McCleese, D. J.; Zurek, R.; Kass, D.; Schofield, J. T.; Leovy, C. B.; Taylor, F. W.; Toigo, A. D. |
| Affiliation: | AA(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AB(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AC(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AD(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AE(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AF(Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA), AG(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AH(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AI(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AJ(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasade! na, California, USA), AK(Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA), AL(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK), AM(Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) |
| Journal: | Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 114, Issue E3, CiteID E03005 |
| Publication Date: | Mar 2009 |
| Origin: | AGU |
| Keywords: | Atmospheric Processes: Tides and planetary waves, Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mars, Atmospheric Processes: General circulation (1223), Atmospheric Processes: Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342), Atmospheric Processes: Remote sensing |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JE003285http://bit.ly/Wsjmcq |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2009JGRE..114.3005L |
| Abstract: | The first systematic observations of the middle atmosphere of Mars (35-80km) with the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) show dramatic patterns of diurnal thermal variation, evident in retrievals of temperature and water ice opacity. At the time of writing, the data set of MCS limb retrievals is sufficient for spectral analysis within a limited range of latitudes and seasons. This analysis shows that these thermal variations are almost exclusively associated with a diurnal thermal tide. Using a Martian general circulation model to extend our analysis, we show that the diurnal thermal tide dominates these patterns for all latitudes and all seasons. |
2008
| Title: | Intense polar temperature inversion in the middle atmosphere on Mars |
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| Authors: | McCleese, D. J.; Schofield, J. T.; Taylor, F. W.; Abdou, W. A.; Aharonson, O.; Banfield, D.; Calcutt, S. B.; Heavens, N. G.; Irwin, P. G. J.; Kass, D. M.; Kleinböhl, A.; Lawson, W. G.; Leovy, C. B.; Lewis, S. R.; Paige, D. A.; Read, P. L.; Richardson, M. I.; Teanby, N.; Zurek, R. W. |
| Affiliation: | AA(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA), AB(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA), AC(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK), AD(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA), AE(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91105, USA), AF(Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA), AG(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK), AH(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91105, USA), AI(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK), AJ(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Californi! a 91103, USA), AK(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA), AL(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91105, USA), AM(Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98101, USA), AN(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK), AO(Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA), AP(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK), AQ(Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91105, USA), AR(Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK), AS(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA) |
| Journal: | Nature Geoscience, Volume 1, Issue 11, pp. 745-749 (2008). |
| Publication Date: | Nov 2008 |
| Origin: | NATURE |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo332http://bit.ly/SlXnFX |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2008NatGe...1..745M |
| Abstract: | Current understanding of weather, climate and global atmospheric circulation on Mars is incomplete, in particular at altitudes above about 30km. General circulation models for Mars are similar to those developed for weather and climate forecasting on Earth and require more martian observations to allow testing and model improvements. However, the available measurements of martian atmospheric temperatures, winds, water vapour and airborne dust are generally restricted to the region close to the surface and lack the vertical resolution and global coverage that is necessary to shed light on the dynamics of Mars' middle atmosphere at altitudes between 30 and 80km (ref. 7). Here we report high-resolution observations from the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These observations show an intense warming of the middle atmosphere over the south polar region in winter that is at least 10-20K warmer than predicted by current model simulations. To explain this finding, we suggest that the atmospheric downwelling circulation over the pole, which is part of the equator-to-pole Hadley circulation, may be as much as 50% more vigorous than expected, with consequences for the cycles of water, dust and CO2 that regulate the present-day climate on Mars. |
| Title: | Dust haze in Valles Marineris observed by HRSC and OMEGA on board Mars Express |
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| Authors: | Inada, A.; Garcia-Comas, M.; Altieri, F.; Gwinner, K.; Poulet, F.; Bellucci, G.; Keller, H. U.; Markiewicz, W. J.; Richardson, M. I.; Hoekzema, N.; Neukum, G.; Bibring, J.-P. |
| Affiliation: | AA(Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AB(Max-Planck-Institute of Solar System Research, Lindau, Germany), AC(Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy), AD(Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany), AE(IAU, Université Paris, Orsay, France), AF(Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy), AG(Max-Planck-Institute of Solar System Research, Lindau, Germany), AH(Max-Planck-Institute of Solar System Research, Lindau, Germany), AI(Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), AJ(Max-Planck-Institute of Solar System Research, Lindau, Germany), AK(Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany), AL(IAU, Université Paris, Orsay, France) |
| Journal: | Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 113, Issue E2, CiteID E02004 |
| Publication Date: | Feb 2008 |
| Origin: | AGU |
| Keywords: | Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mars, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Aurorae and airglow, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote sensing |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JE002893http://bit.ly/U8cO2V |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2008JGRE..113.2004I |
| Abstract: | We present analysis of a bright haze observed inside Valles Marineris, which formed in mid northern spring. The data were collected by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the imaging spectrometer, Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA), aboard Mars Express. This study provides a case example of the power of simultaneous multiple emission angle and hyperspectral imaging for study of aerosols and clouds in the Martian atmosphere. The haze appeared thinner after three days and disappeared in nine days. It was limited to a 2-km layer at the bottom of the canyon. The color was redder than the underlying surface. The analysis of the OMEGA spectra indicates that this haze was composed of dust particles. The dust layer appeared brighter with the HRSC stereo channels than the nadir channel due to longer scattering paths. We have estimated the optical depth of the haze by fitting both HRSC and OMEGA data with radiative transfer calculations. The retrieval of the optical depth is very sensitive to the aerosol scattering model used and the reflectance of the surface. Applying an aerosol scattering model derived from sky surveys at a constant elevation by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder, the optical depth of the haze is estimated from HRSC data to be within 1.7 to 2.3 at the wavelength (λ) of 0.675 μm. The wavelength dependence is obtained from OMEGA spectrum. It increases to 2.2-2.6 at λ = 1.35 μm and moderately decreases to 1.2-1.8 at λ = 2.4 μm. |
| Title: | Two aerodynamic roughness maps derived from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data and their effects on boundary layer properties in a Mars general circulation model (GCM) |
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| Authors: | Heavens, N. G.; Richardson, M. I.; Toigo, A. D. |
| Affiliation: | AA(Division of the Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA); AB(Division of the Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA); AC(Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) |
| Journal: | Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 113, Issue E2, CiteID E02014 |
| Publication Date: | Feb 2008 |
| Origin: | AGU |
| Keywords: | Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mars, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Surface materials and properties, Atmospheric Processes: Boundary layer processes, Atmospheric Processes: Global climate models (1626, 4928) |
| Abstract Copyright: | (c) 2008: American Geophysical Union |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JE002991http://bit.ly/UXryQt |
| Bibliographic Code: | 2008JGRE..11302014H |
| Abstract: | Mechanical (forced convective) and free convective turbulent heat and momentum transfer in the lower atmosphere of a terrestrial planet has some dependence on the roughness characteristics of the surface, often quantified in terms of a single roughness parameter which is then used to calculate the coefficients that govern heat and momentum transport between the surface and the boundary layer. We take two different approaches for deriving this aerodynamic roughness parameter for Martian surfaces using data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. We then use these two different roughness maps to force the boundary layer in a Mars general circulation model, primarily investigating differences in temperatures and the pressure cycle between the two simulations. While the pressure cycle does not vary significantly, spring and summer high-latitude temperatures are somewhat sensitive to the input roughness conditions. Daytime temperatures may vary up to 10 K seasonally, though zonally and annually averaged daytime temperatures vary only by ~1 K. Our results can be explained by the dominance of mechanical over convective turbulent heat transfer processes on Mars. These simulations, however, use a prescribed atmospheric dust distribution and thus only provide a minimum estimate of the uncertainty in boundary layer temperatures because of this plausible range of aerodynamic roughness parameters. Since surface roughness determines the threshold wind velocity for dust lifting we anticipate a much larger effect of the aerodynamic roughness parameter on temperatures when the dust distribution is allowed to vary according to predicted lifting and transport. |