Effects of Local Dust Storms on the Upper Atmosphere of Mars: Observations and Simulations

2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 602-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Feng Qin ◽  
Hong Zou ◽  
Yu Guang Ye ◽  
Ze Fan Yin ◽  
Jing Song Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Local Dust

Hydrogen escape from Mars is driven by seasonal and dust storm transport of water

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 370 (6518) ◽  
pp. 824-831
Author(s):  
Shane W. Stone ◽  
Roger V. Yelle ◽  
Mehdi Benna ◽  
Daniel Y. Lo ◽  
Meredith K. Elrod ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dust Storm ◽  
Atomic Hydrogen ◽  
Molecular Hydrogen ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Mars Atmosphere ◽  
Water Abundance ◽  
Neutral Gas ◽  
Standard Models

Mars has lost most of its once-abundant water to space, leaving the planet cold and dry. In standard models, molecular hydrogen produced from water in the lower atmosphere diffuses into the upper atmosphere where it is dissociated, producing atomic hydrogen, which is lost. Using observations from the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, we demonstrate that water is instead transported directly to the upper atmosphere, then dissociated by ions to produce atomic hydrogen. The water abundance in the upper atmosphere varied seasonally, peaking in southern summer, and surged during dust storms, including the 2018 global dust storm. We calculate that this transport of water dominates the present-day loss of atomic hydrogen to space and influenced the evolution of Mars’ climate.

scholarly journals Textured Dust Storm Activity in Northeast Amazonis–Southwest Arcadia, Mars: Phenomenology and Dynamical Interpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1011-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. G. Heavens
Keyword(s):  
Dust Storm ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Mars Global Surveyor ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Local Dust ◽  
Visible Imagery ◽  
Meteorological Phenomenon

Abstract Dust storms are Mars’s most notable meteorological phenomenon, but many aspects of their structure and dynamics remain mysterious. The cloud-top appearance of dust storms in visible imagery varies on a continuum between diffuse/hazy and textured. Textured storms contain cellular structure and/or banding, which is thought to indicate active lifting within the storm. Some textured dust storms may contain the deep convection that generates the detached dust layers observed high in Mars’s atmosphere. This study focuses on textured local dust storms in a limited area within Northeast (NE) Amazonis and Southwest (SW) Arcadia Planitiae (25°–40°N, 155°–165°W) using collocated observations by instruments on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) satellites. In northern fall and winter, this area frequently experiences dust storms with a previously unreported ruffled texture that resembles wide, mixed-layer rolls in Earth’s atmosphere, a resemblance that is supported by high-resolution active sounding and passive radiometry in both the near- and thermal infrared. These storms are mostly confined within the atmospheric boundary layer and are rarely sources of detached dust layers. The climatology and structure of these storms are thus consistent with an underlying driver of cold-air-advection events related to the passage of strong baroclinic waves. While the properties of the studied region may be ideal for detecting these structures and processes, the dynamics here are likely relevant to dust storm activity elsewhere on Mars.

scholarly journals Martian Dust Storms and Gravity Waves: Disentangling Water Transport to the Upper Atmosphere

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry S. Shaposhnikov ◽  
Alexander S. Medvedev ◽  
Alexander V. Rodin ◽  
Erdal Yiğit ◽  
Paul Hartogh
Keyword(s):  
Water Transport ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere

scholarly journals Time-history influence of global dust storms on the upper atmosphere at Mars

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Liemohn ◽  
Ava Dupre ◽  
Stephen W. Bougher ◽  
Matthew Trantham ◽  
David L. Mitchell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time History ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere

scholarly journals Long-Term Variability of Dust Events in Southwestern Iran and Its Relationship with the Drought

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1350
Author(s):  
Nasim Hossein Hamzeh ◽  
Dimitris G. Kaskaoutis ◽  
Alireza Rashki ◽  
Kaveh Mohammadpour
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Modis Aod ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
Southwestern Iran ◽  
Local Dust ◽  
Southwest Iran

Dust storms represent a major environmental challenge in the Middle East. The southwest part of Iran is highly affected by dust events transported from neighboring desert regions, mostly from the Iraqi plains and Saudi Arabia, as well as from local dust storms. This study analyzes the spatio-temporal distribution of dust days at five meteorological stations located in southwestern Iran covering a period of 22 years (from 1997 to 2018). Dust codes (06, 07, 30 to 35) from meteorological observations are analyzed at each station, indicating that 84% of the dust events are not of local origin. The average number of dust days maximizes in June and July (188 and 193, respectively), while the dust activity weakens after August. The dust events exhibit large inter-annual variability, with statistically significant increasing trends in all of five stations. Spatial distributions of the aerosol optical depth (AOD), dust loading, and surface dust concentrations from a moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) retrievals reveal high dust accumulation over southwest Iran and surrounding regions. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the (MODIS)-AOD trend (%) over southwest Iran indicates a large spatial heterogeneity during 2000–2018 with trends ranging mostly between −9% and 9% (not statistically significant). 2009 was the most active dust year, followed by 2011 and 2008, due to prolonged drought conditions in the fertile crescent and the enhanced dust emissions in the Iraqi plains during this period. In these years, the AOD was much higher than the 19-year average (2000 to 2018), while July 2009 was the dustiest month with about 25–30 dust days in each station. The years with highest dust activity were associated with less precipitation, negative anomalies of the vegetation health index (VHI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) over the Iraqi plains and southwest Iran, and favorable meteorological dynamics triggering stronger winds.

scholarly journals General circulation modeling of the Martian upper atmosphere during global dust storms

2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (10) ◽  
pp. 2234-2246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander S. Medvedev ◽  
Erdal Yiğit ◽  
Takeshi Kuroda ◽  
Paul Hartogh
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Circulation Modeling

A new look to the Martian atmosphere

1974 ◽  
Vol 341 (1626) ◽  
pp. 317-330 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Orbital Eccentricity ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Local Dust ◽  
Cloud Patterns

Although the Martian atmosphere is at present only about 1% as dense as the Earth’s atmosphere it has been revealed as a dramatically active environment by the observations made during 1971-72 by the Mariner 9 and Soviet Mars 2 and 3 spacecrafts which arrived at the planet during a major global dust storm. Local dust storms were seen to change in intensity on a daily basis and other evidence for winds were seen in cloud patterns and in visible streaks on the planet’s surface. Cloud layers composed of both CO 2 and water ice have been observed. The variations in the albedos of surface markings are probably caused by the wind blow dust. At the present time the lower atmosphere is found to consist mainly of CO 2 with traces of CO, O 3 , O 2 and H 2 O. Geological evidence of channels and gullies suggests erosion by water at some stage of the planet’s development although it is also possible that wind erosion has played a role in sculpturing these features. Periodic variations in the Martian climate may be created through variations in the planets obliquity and orbital eccentricity over time scales of 25000 years. Mars today, then, may be in a temporary ice age.

Variations in the Ionospheric Peak Altitude at Mars in Response to Dust Storms

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z Girazian ◽  
Z Luppen ◽  
D D Morgan ◽  
F Chu ◽  
L Montabone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Zenith Angle ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Solar Zenith Angle ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Mars Express

Previous observations have shown that, during Martian dust storms, the peak of the ionosphere rises in altitude. Observational studies of this type, however, have been extremely limited. Using 13 years of ionospheric peak altitude data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on Mars Express, we study how the peak altitude responded to dust storms during six different Mars Years (MY). We find that the peak altitude increased during regional dust storms in MY 27 and MY 33, and during the global dust storm in MY 28. In contrast, we find that the peak altitude did not increase during regional dust storms in MY 29 and MY 32, nor during the global dust storm in MY 34. Our results suggest that the response of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere to dust storms is dependent on several factors, including latitude, solar zenith angle, solar cycle conditions, and the magnitude of the dust storm.

Impact of atmospheric gravity waves on the Martian global water cycle during dust storms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shaposhnikov ◽  
Alexander Medvedev ◽  
Alexander Rodin ◽  
Paul Hartogh
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Dust Storm ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity Waves ◽  
Global Water Cycle ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity ◽  
Global Water

<p>Effects of atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) on the global water cycle in the middle and high atmosphere of Mars during the global dust storms (Martian years 28 and 34) have been studied for the first time using a general circulation model. Dust storm simulations were compared with those utilizing the climatological distribution of dust in the absence of a GW parameterization. The dust storm scenarios are based on the observations of the dust optical depth by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The simulations show that accounting for the influence of GWs leads to a change in the concentration of water vapor in the thermosphere. The most significant effect of GWs is twofold. First, cooling of the thermosphere at the poles leads to a decrease in the water vapor abundance during certain periods. Second, heating in the regions representing the main channels of water supply to the upper atmosphere (the so-called water "pump" mechanism) increases, on the contrary, its concentration. Since the temperature increase provides more intensive atmospheric mixing, and also expands the supply channel through an increase in saturation pressure. The dynamic balance of these basic mechanisms drives the changes in the distribution of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. Dust storms enhance pumping of water vapor into the upper atmosphere. Seasonal differences in the storm occurrences in different years allow for tracking the paths of water vapor transport to the upper atmosphere.</p>

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