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Lidar measurements of clouds in the planetary boundary layer on Mars
Author(s) -
Dickinson C.,
Whiteway J. A.,
Komguem L.,
Moores J. E.,
Lemmon M. T.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2010gl044317
Subject(s) - lidar , mars exploration program , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , planetary boundary layer , cloud physics , liquid water content , atmosphere of mars , boundary layer , liquid water , meteorology , geology , astrobiology , remote sensing , cloud computing , physics , martian , thermodynamics , computer science , operating system , earth science
The LIDAR instrument on the Phoenix mission provided observations of clouds within the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) on Mars. In mid to late summer there was a regular Sol‐to‐Sol pattern with cloud formation at around midnight and dissipation before midday. The ice water content (IWC) of the clouds was estimated from the measurements with peak values at 6 am of 1 mg/m 3 , associated with total column IWC of up to 5 g/m 2 . The time of cloud formation did not change throughout the second half of the mission. This is consistent with the expected atmospheric cooling, if the observed decreasing trend in the column amount of water occurred mainly within the PBL.