Pre-recessional (Ls 160-200) Polar Water Ice Clouds at the Martian South Pole: Potential Tracers of East-West Asymmetry?

Details Pre-recessional (Ls 160-200) Polar Water Ice Clouds at the Martian South Pole: Potential Tracers of East-West Asymmetry? Pre-recessional (Ls 160-200) Polar Water Ice Clouds at the Martian South Pole: Potential Tracers of East-West Asymmetry?

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p11a1253b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P11A-1253

Physics

3310 Clouds And Cloud Feedbacks, 5405 Atmospheres (0343, 1060), 5422 Ices, 5462 Polar Regions, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

CRISM observations of the south polar region during the pre-spring recession period (Ls 160-200) show tenuous water ice signatures mixed with CO2 ice signatures over the polar cap between latitudes [1]. Water ice has been identified using the 1.5 micron absorption band, which is discernable within the CO2 1.435 micron band complex due to the narrow nature of the CO2 ice absorptions [2, 3]. A surface deposit of water ice is not favored due to the apparent fine grained nature of the water ice, which is indicated by the weak 1.5 micron absorption band, and the disappearance of the clouds prior to retreat of the south polar CO2 ice beneath them. CRISM observations show the pre-recessional water ice clouds appear to go through a steady growth phase from Ls 160-190 and have a short terminal phase from Ls 200-205 [1, 2]. The clouds never quite encircle the whole pole, and never penetrate the 80 degree latitude line. They are strongest at, and appear to originate from, the 90-150 degree meridian range. From Mars GCM simulations, similar patterns appear to originate from east-west asymmetries in the early spring circulation and low-level thermal environments of the high-latitude/polar regions of the southern hemisphere that arise due to asymmetries of large-scale orography and its effects on the atmosphere and climate. We are currently investigating the optical thickness of the water ice clouds using CRISM full resolution emission phase function observations and intend to examine the H2O absorption bands at 3.2 microns to further elucidate the cloud properties. The potential to trace asymmetric polar atmospheric fluxes using these water ice clouds as tracers may lead to a better understanding of the enigmatic cryptic region and the displacement of the south pole residual cap [5]. [1] Brown, A.J. (2007) Fall AGU abstract P33A-1016 [2] Brown, A.J. and Calvin, W. JGR in preparation [3] Langevin, Y. et al. (2006) JGR 112 doi:10.1029/2006JE002841 [4] Hollingsworth, J.L. et al. (2008) 3rd Mars Atmosphere Workshop [5] Colaprete, A. et al. (2005) Nature 435 184-188

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