Martian dust aerosols in the North Polar summer: scattering properties and shape

Martian atmospheric dust appears to be largely homogenized, yet many sources are present through seasonally distinct processes: Southern summer dust storms, polar cap edge storms, and dust devils. The Phoenix landing site fell within a region of a northern seasonal ice cap with the receding cap edge to its north. The Phoenix Lander's Surface Stereo Imager performed several cross-sky brightness surveys to characterize atmospheric dust in the Martian north polar environment. These surveys, comparable to those by the Viking and Pathfinder landers and the Mars Exploration Rovers, constrain the size distribution and scattering and absorption properties of the airborne dust. We analyze a set taken in early summer in order to compare the results to those of previous missions and constrain the size of dust in a near-cap-edge environment. The spectrophotometric data from 440-1000 nm were taken shortly after a period of local dust storms and during a period of active dust devil lifting, and thus approximate a measurement of the lifted dust. We will present a discussion of constraints on the size distribution, spectral single scattering albedo and imaginary index of refraction of the dust. We also present the first polarimetric observations from inside the Martian atmosphere. These observations show the dust is weakly polarizing in a way that is, as expected, inconsistent with Mie scattering.