Constraining dust particle size during the 2018 global dust storm using Mars Science Laboratory observations and MarsWRF
Abstract
The surface temperature measured by the Rover Environmental Monitoring System (REMS) onboard the Mars Science Laboratory is sensitive to the dust loading in the atmosphere at the time of observation. During the 2018 Global Dust Storm (GDS) the observed surface temperature diurnal variability dropped from 70K (peak-to-peak) to almost 30K at the height of the storm. These observations can be used to examine the effect of total column opacity on the surface conditions, and the competing effects of daytime radiative shading and nighttime thermal insulation on the surface temperature.
We use the MarsWRF General Circulation Model to investigate the variation in surface temperature during the 2018 GDS. One dimensional column models are used to investigate the effect of in-situ particle size changes causing by the storm, supported by three-dimensional global model simulations to constrain the particle size as a function of height in the atmosphere. The mean surface temperature and diurnal temperature range are shown to depend on both the column opacity and the effective particle size of the aerosols in the atmosphere. The model-derived sensitivity of the observations is used to constrain the particle size in the atmosphere before and during the storm peak, and to derive a relationship between the dust storm optical depth and effective aerosol particle size.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P41B3408L
- Keywords:
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- 0343 Planetary atmospheres;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE;
- 6225 Mars;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 5405 Atmospheres;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS;
- 5445 Meteorology;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS