Vertical transport of water ice at low latitudes in the Martian atmosphere

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 945-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Chassefiére ◽  
I. E. Blamont
Keyword(s):  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Vertical Transport ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Low Latitudes

Investigating the relationship between ozone and water-ice in the martian atmosphere

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Brown ◽  
Manish Patel ◽  
Stephen Lewis ◽  
Amel Bennaceur
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
Hydroxyl Radicals ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
The Relationship

<p>This project maps ozone and ice-water clouds detected in the martian atmosphere to assess the atmospheric chemistry between ozone, water-ice and hydroxyl radicals. Hydroxyl photochemistry may be indicated by a non-negative or fluctuating correlation between ozone and water-ice. This will contribute to understanding the stability of carbon dioxide and atmospheric chemistry of Mars.</p><p>Ozone (O<sub>3</sub>) can be used for tracking general circulation of the martian atmosphere and other trace chemicals, as well as acting as a proxy for water vapour. The photochemical break down of water vapour produces hydroxyl radicals known to participate in the destruction of ozone. The relationship between water vapour and ozone is therefore negatively correlated. Atmospheric water-ice concentrations may also follow this theory. The photochemical reactions between ozone, water-ice clouds and hydroxyl radicals are poorly understood in the martian atmosphere due to the short half-life and rapid reaction rates of hydroxyl radicals. These reactions destroy ozone, as well as indirectly contributing to the water cycle and stability of carbon dioxide (measured by the CO<sub>2</sub>–CO ratio). However, the detection of ozone in the presence of water-ice clouds suggests the relationship between them is not always anti-correlated. Global climate models (GCMs) struggle to describe the chemical processes occurring within water-ice clouds. For example, the heterogeneous photochemistry described in the LMD (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) GCM did not significantly improve the model. This leads to the following questions:<em> what is the relationship between water-ice clouds and ozone, and can the chemical reactions of hydroxyl radicals occurring within water-ice clouds be determined through this relationship?</em></p><p>This project aims to address these questions using nadir and occultation retrievals of ozone and water-ice clouds, potentially using retrievals from the UVIS instrument aboard NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery), ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Analysis will include temporal and spatial binning of data to help identify any patterns present. Correlation tests will be conducted to determine the significance of any relationship at short term and seasonal scales along a range of zonally averaged latitude photochemical model from the LMD-UK GCM will be used to further explore the chemical processes.</p><p>Interactions between hydroxyl radicals and the surface of water-ice clouds are poorly understood. Ozone abundance is greatest in the winter at the polar regions, which also coincides with the appearance of the polar hood clouds. The use of nadir observations will enable the comparison between total column of ozone abundance at high latitudes (>60°S) in a range of varying water-ice cloud opacities, as well as the equatorial region (30°S – 30°N) during aphelion. Water-ice clouds may remove hydroxyl radicals responsible for the destruction of ozone and thus the previously assumed anticorrelation between ozone and water-ice will not hold. The project will therefore assess the hypothesis that: <em>water-ice clouds may act as a sink for hydroxyl radicals.</em></p>

Retrieval of the water ice column and physical properties of water-ice clouds in the martian atmosphere using the OMEGA imaging spectrometer

Icarus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 353 ◽  
pp. 113229 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.S. Olsen ◽  
F. Forget ◽  
J.-B. Madeleine ◽  
A. Szantai ◽  
J. Audouard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Imaging Spectrometer ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Water Ice

Water ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere: Two Martian years of SPICAM nadir UV measurements

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 1022-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Mateshvili ◽  
D. Fussen ◽  
F. Vanhellemont ◽  
C. Bingen ◽  
E. Dekemper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Water Ice

scholarly journals Mesospheric water ice clouds in Mars Year 34-35 as identified in ExoMars UVIS occultation opacities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Streeter ◽  
Graham Sellers ◽  
Mike Wolff ◽  
Jon Mason ◽  
Manish Patel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Atmospheric Aerosols ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Earth Planet ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Mars Atmosphere ◽  
Water Ice

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong>  Suspended atmospheric aerosols are key components of the martian atmosphere, and their vertical distribution has long been a subject of investigation with orbital observations and modelling. The aerosols found in Mars' atmosphere are mineral dust, water ice, and CO<sub>2</sub> ice, and each have distinct spatiotemporal distributions and radiative effects.</p> <p>Of particular interest for this study is the vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosols. In recent years, dust has been observed to have a more complex vertical distribution structure than previously thought, with the detection of detached dust layers [1] and large plume-like structures during Global Dust Storms (GDS) [2].</p> <p>Water ice distribution is tied to the seasonal behaviour of its associated cloud formations, with seasonally recurring features including the aphelion cloud belt (ACB) [3] and polar hood clouds [4] at tropospheric altitudes, as well as higher altitude mesospheric (>40 km) clouds during Mars’ perihelion season [5] as well as during GDS [6,7].</p> <p>Mars’ low atmospheric temperatures also enable the formation of CO<sub>2</sub> ice clouds, which have been detected at mesospheric altitudes over the tropics/subtropics and generally during the colder aphelion season [5,8]. These are thought to be more ephemeral than their water ice counterparts, with lifetimes as low as minutes [9]. More persistent and optically thicker CO2 ice clouds have been detected at tropospheric altitudes in the polar night [10].</p> <p> The Ultraviolet and Visible (UVIS) Spectrometer [11], part of the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) spectrometer suite aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) [12], has now observed the martian atmospheric limb via solar occultations for over 1.5 martian years. This period covers the 2018/Mars Year (MY) 34 GDS and regional dust storm, as well as the entirety of the more typical MY 35. As such, UVIS solar occultation data provides a great opportunity to examine Mars’ vertical aerosol structure.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>We present a new UVIS occultation opacity profile dataset, openly available for use by the community. We also discuss particular features of interest in the dataset, and interpret these features by reference to previous published work and by comparison with the MGCM. In particular,<strong> </strong>we focus on notable mesospheric water ice cloud phenomena observed in both MY 34 and MY 35. We describe the spatiotemporal distribution of these features, and the link between specific water ice features and strong atmospheric dust activity from global and regional storms. The MGCM temperature and aerosol opacity fields provide valuable points of comparison with the UVIS dataset, for the purposes of both explanation and validation of the MGCM’s existing parametrizations. The UVIS dataset offers opportunities for further research into the vertical aerosol structure of the martian atmosphere, and improvement of how this is represented in numerical models.</p> <p><strong>References:</strong> [1] Heavens, N. G. et al (2011) <em>JGR (Planets), 116(E4), </em>E04003. [2] Heavens, N. G. et al (2019) <em>GRL, 124</em>(11), 2863-2892. [3] Smith M. D. (2008) <em>Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci, 26, </em>191-219. [4] Wang, H. & Ingersoll, A. P. (2002) <em>JGR (Planets), 107(E10), </em>8-1-8-16. [5] Clancy, R. T. et al (2019) <em>Icarus, 328, </em>246-273. [6] Liuzzi G. et al (2020) <em>JGR (Planets), 125</em>(4). [7] Stcherbinine, A. et al (2020) <em>JGR (Planets), 125</em>(3). [8] Aoki, S. et al (2018) <em>Icarus, 302, </em>175-190. [9] Listowski, C. et al (2014) <em>Icarus, 237, </em>239-261. [10] Hayne, P. O. et al (2012) <em>JGR (Planets), 117</em>(E8). [11] Patel, M. R. et al (2017) <em>Appl. Opt., 56</em>(10), 2771-2782. [12] Vandaele, A. C. et al (2015) <em>Planet. Space Sci., 119</em>, 233-249.</p>

scholarly journals Clouds in the Martian Atmosphere

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anni Määttänen ◽  
Franck Montmessin
Keyword(s):  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Ice Nuclei ◽  
Tiny Amount ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Please check back later for the full article. Although resembling an extremely dry desert, planet Mars hosts clouds in its atmosphere. Every day somewhere on the planet a part of the tiny amount of water vapor held by the atmosphere can condense as ice crystals to form cirrus-type clouds. The existence of water ice clouds has been known for a long time, and they have been studied for decades, leading to the establishment of a well-known climatology and understanding of their formation and properties. Despite their thinness, they have a clear impact on the atmospheric temperatures, thus affecting the Martian climate. Another, more exotic type of clouds forms as well on Mars. The atmospheric temperatures can plunge to such frigid values that the major gaseous component of the atmosphere, CO2, condenses as ice crystals. These clouds form in the cold polar night where they also contribute to the formation of the CO2 ice polar cap, and also in the mesosphere at very high altitudes, near the edge of space, analogously to the noctilucent clouds on Earth. The mesospheric clouds are a fairly recent discovery and have put our understanding of the Martian atmosphere to a test. On Mars, cloud crystals form on ice nuclei, mostly provided by the omnipresent dust. Thus, the clouds link the three major climatic cycles: those of the two major volatiles, H2O and CO2; and that of dust, which is a major climatic agent itself.

Numerical Simulations of the Formation and Evolution of Water Ice Clouds in the Martian Atmosphere

Icarus ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane V. Michelangeli ◽  
Owen B. Toon ◽  
Robert M. Haberle ◽  
James B. Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Martian Atmosphere ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Formation And Evolution

scholarly journals Study of Chang’E-2 Microwave Radiometer Data in the Lunar Polar Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Yang ◽  
Yi Xu ◽  
Kwing Lam Chan ◽  
Xiaoping Zhang ◽  
Guoping Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brightness Temperature ◽  
Polar Region ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Lunar Regolith ◽  
Microwave Radiometer ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Lunar Prospector ◽  
Low Latitudes

The Chang’E-2 (CE-2) four-channel microwave radiometer (MRM) data with frequencies of 3 GHz, 7.8 GHz, 19.35 GHz, and 37 GHz have been used to investigate the properties of lunar surface such as regolith thickness, dielectric constant, and titanium abundance within a depth of several meters in middle and low latitudes. The purpose of this work is to take a close look at MRM data in the polar regions of the Moon and analyze the characteristics of the brightness temperature (TB) in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), especially where evidence of water ice has been found. First, the comparisons of brightness temperature values in the polar region and in low latitudes show that (1) the periodic diurnal (day/night) variation of TB becomes weak in high latitudes since topography plays a dominant role in determining TB in polar region and (2) seasonal effects are more recognizable in polar region than in low latitudes due to the weak illumination condition. Second, even without direct sun illumination, significant seasonal variations of TBs are observed in PSRs, probably caused by the scattering flux from neighboring topography. TB Ratio (TBR) between channel 1 and channel 4, which indicates the differences of TB at different depths of lunar regolith, is higher and shows stronger seasonal variation in PSR than regions with direct illumination. Third, overall the distribution of high TBR values is in consistence with the water ice distributions obtained by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument, the LAMP UV spectra, and the Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer. The proportion of the summation over area with water ice proof in the regions of interest is 0.89 and 0.56 in south pole and north pole, respectively. The causes of the correlation of high TBR between different microwave frequencies and stability of water ice deposits still require further investigation, but MRM data shows unique characteristic in PSRs and could provide important information about the upper few meters of lunar regolith.

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.

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