Simulations of the Martian Polar Warming Phenomenon

Details Simulations of the Martian Polar Warming Phenomenon Simulations of the Martian Polar Warming Phenomenon

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0311h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #03.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1066

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Until recently, General Circulation Models (GCM's) have been unable to simulate the Martian polar warming phenomenon observed by the Viking spacecraft during the second global dust storm of 1977. It now appears that the reason for this deficiency is that the model tops have been too low. In this paper we report the results of a variety of simulations of the polar warming phenomenon using NASA'S Ames GCM. In these simulations the model's top has been raised to 100 km and the number of layers has been doubled. Gravity wave drag is turned off, but Rayleigh friction is retained. Prescribed fixed atmospheric dust loadings ranging from near clear conditions (visible optical depth .05) to heavily dusty conditions (visible optical depth 5) were examined. In general we find good agreement with the orbiter and lander data when the atmospheric dust loading is large. Simulated 15 micron brightness temperatures in the polar region for the optical depth 5 case are 175K , and surface winds in the latitude-longitude region of the Viking Lander 2 site are from the northeast. The model suggests that the maximum warming occurs higher in the atmosphere than seen by Viking, and that CO2 condensation rates are considerably reduced (but not reversed) during these events. The warming appears to be the result of an expanded angular momentum conserving Hadley circulation as was found by R.J. Wilson using the GFDL GCM. Further analysis of these runs will clarify the role of thermal tides, forced stationary waves, and breaking gravity waves.

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