Premium
The vertical distribution of Martian aerosol particle size
Author(s) -
Guzewich Scott D.,
Smith Michael D.,
Wolff Michael J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: planets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9100
pISSN - 2169-9097
DOI - 10.1002/2014je004704
Subject(s) - martian , effective radius , aerosol , atmospheric sciences , atmosphere of mars , mars exploration program , environmental science , particle size distribution , particle (ecology) , altitude (triangle) , radius , polar , particle size , physics , geology , astrobiology , meteorology , astrophysics , astronomy , geometry , paleontology , oceanography , mathematics , computer security , galaxy , computer science
Abstract Using approximately 410 limb‐viewing observations from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), we retrieve the vertical distribution of Martian dust and water ice aerosol particle sizes. We find that dust particles have an effective radius of 1.0 µm over much of the atmospheric column below 40 km throughout the Martian year. This includes the detached tropical dust layers detected in previous studies. Little to no variation with height is seen in dust particle size. Water ice clouds within the aphelion cloud belt exhibit a strong sorting of particle size with height, however, and the effective radii range from >3 µm below 20 km to near 1.0 µm at 40 km altitude. Conversely, water ice clouds in the seasonal polar hoods show a near‐uniform particle size with an effective radius of approximately 1.5 µm throughout the atmospheric column.