Comparing MARCI Cloud Observations with the NASA/Ames Mars General Circulation Model

Details Comparing MARCI Cloud Observations with the NASA/Ames Mars General Circulation Model Comparing MARCI Cloud Observations with the NASA/Ames Mars General Circulation Model

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p21a1654h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P21A-1654

Physics

[3346] Atmospheric Processes / Planetary Meteorology

Scientific paper

MARCI UV observations have been processed to produce maps of the seasonal and spatial variation of column cloud opacities at 320 nm. We compare these maps with those produced by the NASA/Ames Mars General Circulation Model. Overall, the agreement is good with the model showing the same seasonal trends and patterns as in the observations. In the model, the aphelion cloud belt forms and dissipates at about the same times as in the observations, has a structure similar to the observations in that there is a preference for clouds in the Tharsis region, and the cloud belt itself if centered in the northern low latitudes as in the data. By late winter, a wave three pattern develops in the observed cloud fields poleward of 45N, which is also picked up by the model. At the same season in the southern hemisphere, a wave two structure is more in evidence, and the model too predicts this. The main disagreement between the model and observations is the magnitude of the opacities. For the radiatively active cloud simulations, the model cloud opacities are significantly higher than in the observations. The discrepancy is most pronounced for the polar hoods where model opacities are sometimes more than five times larger than in the data, particularly in the Hellas basin.

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