Computer Science
Scientific paper
May 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997adspr..19.1289m&link_type=abstract
Advances in Space Research, Volume 19, Issue 8, p. 1289-1290.
Computer Science
1
Scientific paper
Telescopic and spacecraft observations of Mars indicate a distinct annual variation in the quantity of dust suspended within it's atmosphere. The maximum dust loading coincides with the planet's orbital perihelion, which itself occurs near in time to southern hemisphere summer solstice. The presence of the suspended dust has significant implications for the atmosphere's thermal state. The dust's annual variation thus induces atmospheric thermal variations in addition to those provided by orbitial and axial considerations. A three-dimensional dynamical/aerosol transport model of the martian atmosphere is being employed to explore the dynamical factors which produce the observed annual dust cycle. Surface dust lifting is determined dependent upon the model calculated surface stress values, with a chosen threshold stress value below which no dust lifting occurs. When the radiative effects of the suspended dust are accounted for, the model spontaneously produces an annual dust cycle consisting of a double peaked maxima of suspended dust during middle southern spring (Ls=215) and early summer (Ls=275). This double peaked character results from a negative feedback produced by the suspended dust: when lifted dust is radiatively inert (i.e., a clear atmosphere), there is a single maxima in the dust loading at southern summer solstice. Twice as much dust is lifted in this inert dust case compared to the radiatively active simulation. Preferred dust lifting regions are: Hellas, the peripheries of the retreating seasonal polar caps, areas north and east of Tharsis, and northern middle latitudes.
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