Simulation of the Martian dust cycle with a general circulation model

Details Simulation of the Martian dust cycle with a general circulation model Simulation of the Martian dust cycle with a general circulation model

May 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agusm.a13a..04b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #A13A-04

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5707 Atmospheres: Structure And Dynamics

Scientific paper

The Martian seasonal dust cycle is examined with a general circulation model (GCM). On the basis of the model results and thermal and imaging data, we suggest that the background dust haze on Mars is maintained by convective processes, specifically, dust devils. Combining the convective scheme and high-threshold stress lifting, we obtain a "best fit" multiyear simulation, which produces a realistic thermal state in northern spring and summer and, for the first time, spontaneous and inter-annually variable global dust storms. Two prominent storm systems that were identified in our simulations are a) the cross equatorial flushing type of storms that are associated with frontal systems. The frontal dust features in our simulations are due to the traveling wave systems. There are two prominent periods for large flushing storm activity: Ls=200-240 and Ls=310-345. The storms later in the season are less frequent compared to the earlier ones. The flushing storm along the Acidalia channel is the most active. This baroclinic storm system matches up quite well with observations: TES temperature retrievals and MOC imagery data. As observed, the simulated storms are most closely associated with a zonal wavenumber 3. The traveling waves are shallow and stronger in the northern hemisphere as compared to the southern hemisphere. The second major storm system b) are the storms arising from the Hellas basin. The simulated storms have a lot in common with the TES observations and the MOC imagery. These storms can also be classified as early Hellas storms and the late Hellas storms. The early Hellas storms start ~Ls=180. In some instances they go global and in other instances, they are confined to the Hellas region. The early Hellas global storm propagates eastwards due to strong westerlies and spreads into the northern hemisphere. The storm starts decaying as soon as the peak opacities are reached ~Ls=220. The global storm that starts later in the season ~Ls=270, is however much bigger and propagates both eastwards and westwards. It is made stronger by the subtropical jet which activates a few active lifting centers along the zonal band. This storm has a purely seasonal decay.

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