Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks

Details Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.0308k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #3.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.390

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

As measured by the pressure sensors on the Viking landers, year-to-year variations in Mars' CO2 cycle are remarkably small. The dust cycle can affect the CO2 cycle by affecting the heat balance of the atmosphere and by altering the albedo and emissivity of the polar caps. Therefore, one would expect that the highly variable nature of the dust cycle would give rise to year-to-year variability in the CO2 cycle, which intriguingly is not the case. In this study, we explore the possibility that feedbacks between the dust and CO2 cycles lead to a stable, repeatable CO2 cycle. A version of the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model that includes the lifting, transport and sedimentation of radiatively active dust is employed to investigate the coupling between the CO2 and dust cycles. We couple the dust and CO2 cycles in the model by implementing an albedo feedback based on a two-stream albedo calculation that depends upon the relative concentrations of dust and CO2 ice in the polar caps. Comparisons are made between model-predicted albedos and TES-observed seasonal CO2 ice albedos. Our model analysis focuses on the effects of this coupling on the variability of the CO2 and dust cycles with the goal of increasing our understanding of the surprisingly repeatable nature of the Viking lander pressure curves.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Understanding The Repeatable Nature Of The Viking Surface Pressure Curves: Coupling Mars' CO2 And Dust Cycles Through Polar Cap Albedo Feedbacks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1436384