Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0314b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #03.14; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1067
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Recent numerical experiments with the NASA-Ames Mars GCM have examined some of the effects of the large topography upon the winter baroclinic eddies. Previous studies have indicated that the topography may be largely responsible for a suppression of the eddy activity in southern winter. If this indeed is the case, then it may have considerable implications for the Martian climate system. The recent experiments have isolated the effects of the zonally symmetric and asymmetric components of the topography, and have examined three different topographic data sets which are currently available. In all cases, the eddy activity in southern winter is much weaker than that in northern winter, and the topography is the primary cause of this difference. Some of the difference is associated with the basic seasonal asymmetry of Mars. The major surprise of the GCM studies is that the zonally asymmetric component of topography is largely responsible for the suppression of the eddy activity in southern winter. The zonally symmetric topography acts to produce only a slight reduction in the strength of the southern eddies, or even a slight increase in their strength, depending upon the data set. The symmetric topography in the northern hemisphere is quite strongly destabilizing, acting to enhance the eddy activity in the north. Though the zonally asymmetric topography in the north acts to reduce the eddy activity, as in the southern hemisphere, the net result is that the northern eddies are much more vigorous than those in southern winter. In both hemispheres, the topography tends to promote eddy activity at higher zonal wavenumbers (shorter scales). The dynamical mechanisms underlying the effects of the topography on the baroclinic eddy activity are not well understood at present. In particular, the northern hemisphere zonally symmetric topography is expected to tend to suppress the eddies, according to simplified models of baroclinic instability. The general effects of zonally asymmetric topography on baroclinic eddies are poorly understood at best, but there are indications from simplified models that asymmetric topographic forcing can act to substantially inhibit baroclinic instability.
Barnes James R.
Haberle Robert M.
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