Monitoring Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of Mars

Details Monitoring Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of Mars Monitoring Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of Mars

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0307b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #03.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1065

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Since 1990, the Very Large Array (VLA) has been used to spectroscopically observe the 1.35--cm water vapor line in the atmosphere of Mars. These observations probe the H_2O emission along the limb of the planet, providing estimates of the total globally averaged H_2O column abundance, and the vertical distribution of H_2O (including the saturation altitude). For an in--depth discussion of the observational technique, see Clancy et al. (1992). In December 1990, November 1992, and February and June 1993, such experiments were performed in order to probe the Mars atmospheric water during the northern winter through early northern summer seasons (L_s = 345(deg,) 350(deg,) 42(deg,) and\ 98(deg) ). These data, taken in combination with measurements of the vertical temperature profile (via measurements of millimeter CO lines), imply a very cold and less dusty atmosphere in the 1990's, in contrast with the relatively dusty and warm atmosphere measured by the Viking orbiters. Both sets of measurements imply a very low saturation altitude for H_2O (< 10 km) around Mars aphelion, which has significant implications for hemispheric transport of water vapor. Such aphelion atmospheric conditions have been argued to explain the difference in the south and north residual caps and the interannual variability of the global dust storms on Mars (Clancy et al. 1996). Since 1993, similar experiments have been performed in June, September, and December 1994, and February 1995 (L_s = 290(deg,) 340(deg,) 30(deg,) and\ 66(deg) ). These observations were intended to test the variability of the atmospheric water vapor during seasons probed in earlier experiments (L_s = 340(deg,) 30(deg,) and\ 66(deg) ), and to observe one new season (L_s = 290(deg) , late southern summer). Results from these experiments will be presented, along with implications for the H_2O budget in the atmosphere of Mars.

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