Seasonal Weather Patterns Influencing Dune Morphology in Noachis Terra, Mars: Using a Mesoscale Model for Surface Science

Details Seasonal Weather Patterns Influencing Dune Morphology in Noachis Terra, Mars: Using a Mesoscale Model for Surface Science Seasonal Weather Patterns Influencing Dune Morphology in Noachis Terra, Mars: Using a Mesoscale Model for Surface Science

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufm.p42a0424f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #P42A-0424

Physics

5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, 5407 Atmospheres: Evolution, 5445 Meteorology (3346), 5464 Remote Sensing, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

The work of the wind is the one sedimentary process that both acts on the surface and interacts with the lower atmosphere of Mars. Wind-sculpted landforms such as sand dunes are among the few features visible in spacecraft images that provide information on the aeolian sedimentary environment and surface wind circulation patterns of Mars. The study of the placement and orientations of sand dunes leads to the depositional, erosional, and transport history of sand across a region. When correlated with wind predictions from an atmospheric model, dune orientations provide not only model verification but also an understanding of the seasonal weather patterns that influence dune morphology. We have applied a mesoscale model to Noachis Terra, an 1800 km x 3500 km area of Mars containing several dune fields. The Mars Mesoscale Model 5 (Mars MM5), developed from the PSU/NCAR MM5, was run in periods spanning the Martian year, predicting seasonal wind patterns for each of nine dune fields in Noachis Terra. Dune slipface orientations were measured for all dune fields imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor. Preliminary results indicate a high correspondence of dune morphology with present-day seasonally-dependent wind patterns predicted by the Mars MM5.

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