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Interannual similarity in the Martian atmosphere during the dust storm season
Author(s) -
Kass D. M.,
Kleinböhl A.,
McCleese D. J.,
Schofield J. T.,
Smith M. D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl068978
Subject(s) - storm , dust storm , climatology , northern hemisphere , solstice , atmospheric sciences , mars exploration program , environmental science , southern hemisphere , latitude , atmosphere (unit) , geology , meteorology , geography , oceanography , astrobiology , physics , geodesy
We find that during the dusty season on Mars (southern spring and summer) of years without a global dust storm there are three large regional‐scale dust storms. The storms are labeled A, B, and C in seasonal order. This classification is based on examining the zonal mean 50 Pa (∼25 km) daytime temperature retrievals from TES/MGS and MCS/MRO over 6 Mars Years. Regional‐scale storms are defined as events where the temperature exceeds 200 K. Examining the MCS dust field at 50 Pa indicates that warming in the Southern Hemisphere is dominated by direct heating, while northern high latitude warming is a dynamical response. A storms are springtime planet encircling Southern Hemisphere events. B storms are southern polar events that begin near perihelion and last through the solstice. C storms are southern summertime events starting well after the end of the B storm. C storms show the most interannual variability.