IRTM Observations of Martian South Polar Frosts

Details IRTM Observations of Martian South Polar Frosts IRTM Observations of Martian South Polar Frosts

Jun 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0211o&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #02.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1060

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The albedo is an important factor in the heat balance because it determines the amount of absorbed solar radation. This is of particular interest for the martian south polar cap, SPC, because the SPC is believed to be the primary carbon dioxide reservoir for the martian atmosphere. For frosts and ices, albedo information could also provide keys to the microphysical nature of the surface. The Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper, IRTM, made observations of the SPC throughout southern spring and summer. The full retreat of the seasonal cap was observed in detail. The dearth of more recent spacecraft observations of the SPC has led to a thorough re-analysis of these data, using current image processing and computational techniques. The following trends in the reflectivity of the SPC frost are reported here. Initially, in early southern spring, the seasonal cap has an albedo of roughly 0.45. This increases steadily and peaks at mid-summer, when the albedo reaches 0.7 in places. After this time, the seasonal cap sublimes away, leaving the residual cap which has an albedo of roughly 0.5. Furthermore, no evidence was seen for any albedo dependance on solar illumination, emission, azimuth angle, or on local time. Several current theories that attempt to explain the SPC reflectivity will be examined in light of this new analysis.

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