A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum.

Details A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum. A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum.

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufm.p31b0206m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #P31B-0206

Mathematics

Logic

5405 Atmospheres (0343, 1060), 5419 Hydrology And Fluvial Processes, 5422 Ices, 5450 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics (1221), 5455 Origin And Evolution

Scientific paper

Recent MER Opportunity observations suggest there existed an extensive body of shallow water in the present Meridiani Planum during the late Noachian [1]. Observations of roughly contemporaneous valley networks show little net erosion [2]. Hypsometric analysis [3] finds that martian drainage basins are similar to terrestrial drainage basins in very arid regions. The immaturity of martian drainage basins suggests they were formed by infrequent fluvial action. If similar fluvial discharges are responsible for the laminations in the salt-bearing outcrops of Meridiani Planum, their explanation may require a climate model based on surface thermal equilibrium with diurnally averaged temperatures greater than freezing. In the context of Mars' chaotic obliquity, invoking a moderately thick atmosphere with seasonal insolation patterns may uncover the conditions under which the outcrops formed. We compounded a 1-D model of the evolution of Mars' inventories of CO2 over its lifetime called the Mars Evolution Code (MEC) [4]. We are assembling a zonal climate model that includes meridional heat transport, heat conduction to/from the regolith, latent heat deposition, and an albedo distribution based on the depositional patterns of ices. Since water vapor is an important greenhouse gas, and whose ice affects the albedo, we must install a full hydrological cycle. This requires a thermal model of the regolith to model diffusion of water vapor to/from a permafrost layer. Our model carries obliquity and eccentricity distributions consistent with Laskar et al. [5], so we will be able to model the movement of the ice cap with changes in obliquity. The climate model will be used to investigate the conditions under which ponded water could have occurred in the late Noachian, thus supplying a constraint on the free inventory of CO2 at that time. Our evolution code can then investigate Hesperian and Amazonian climates. The model could also be used to understand evidence of recent climate change, and the specifics of the layering of the northern polar cap. References [1] Hynek, B. M. (2004) Nature 431, 156. [2] Irwin, R. et al. (2004) LPI Conf. 35, 1991. [3] Stepinski, T. F., (2004) JGR E18, 2005 [4] Manning, C. V., et al. (2005Icarus submitted [5] Laskar, J. et al. (2004) Icarus, 170, 343.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum. does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Zonal Climate Model for the 1-D Mars Evolution Code: Explaining Meridiani Planum. will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-749275