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1.
A general circulation model is used to evaluate changes to the circulation and dust transport in the martian atmosphere for a range of past orbital conditions. A dust transport scheme, including parameterized dust lifting, is incorporated within the model to enable passive or radiatively active dust transport. The focus is on changes which relate to surface features, as these may potentially be verified by observations. Obliquity variations have the largest impact, as they affect the latitudinal distribution of solar heating. At low obliquities permanent CO2 ice caps form at both poles, lowering mean surface pressures. At higher obliquities, solar insolation peaks at higher summer latitudes near solstice, producing a stronger, broader meridional circulation and a larger seasonal CO2 ice cap in winter. Near-surface winds associated with the main meridional circulation intensify and extend polewards, with changes in cap edge position also affecting the flow. Hence the model predicts significant changes in surface wind directions as well as magnitudes. Dust lifting by wind stress increases with obliquity as the meridional circulation and associated near-surface winds strengthen. If active dust transport is used, then lifting rates increase further in response to the larger atmospheric dust opacities (hence circulation) produced. Dust lifting by dust devils increases more gradually with obliquity, having a weaker link to the meridional circulation. The primary effect of varying eccentricity is to change the impact of varying the areocentric longitude of perihelion, l, which determines when the solar forcing is strongest. The atmospheric circulation is stronger when l aligns with solstice rather than equinox, and there is also a bias from the martian topography, resulting in the strongest circulations when perihelion is at northern winter solstice. Net dust accumulation depends on both lifting and deposition. Dust which has been well mixed within the atmosphere is deposited preferentially over high topography. For wind stress lifting, the combination produces peak net removal within western boundary currents and southern midlatitude bands, and net accumulation concentrated in Arabia and Tharsis. In active dust transport experiments, dust is also scoured from northern midlatitudes during winter, further confining peak accumulation to equatorial regions. As obliquity increases, polar accumulation rates increase for wind stress lifting and are largest for high eccentricities when perihelion occurs during northern winter. For dust devil lifting, polar accumulation rates increase (though less rapidly) with obliquity above o=25°, but increase with decreasing obliquity below this, thus polar dust accumulation at low obliquities may be increasingly due to dust lifted by dust devils. For all cases discussed, the pole receiving most dust shifts from north to south as obliquity is increased. 相似文献
2.
We have used Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data from 2007 and 2009 to compare summer behaviors of the seasonal and residual south polar caps of Mars in those two years. We find that the planet-encircling dust storm that occurred in the first of the two Mars years enhanced the loss of seasonal CO2 deposits relative to the second year but did not have a large effect on the continuing erosion of the pits and mesas within the residual cap materials. This suggests that the increase of bright frost in some regions of the residual cap observed between Mariner 9 and Viking can be accommodated within observed martian weather variability and does not require unknown processes or climate change. 相似文献
3.
J. Segschneider B. Grieger F. Lunkeit K. Fraedrich R. Greve 《Planetary and Space Science》2005,53(6):659-670
A climate model of intermediate complexity, named the Mars Climate Simulator, has been developed based on the Portable University Model of the Atmosphere (PUMA). The main goal of this new development is to simulate the climate variations on Mars resulting from the changes in orbital parameters and their impact on the layered polar terrains (also known as permanent polar ice caps). As a first step towards transient simulations over several obliquity cycles, the model is applied to simulate the dynamical and thermodynamical response of the Martian climate system to different but fixed obliquity angles. The model is forced by the annual and daily cycle of solar insolation. Experiments have been performed for obliquities of φ=15° (minimum), φ=25.2° (present), and φ=35° (maximum). The resulting changes in solar insolation mainly in the polar regions impact strongly on the cross-equatorial circulation which is driven by the meridional temperature gradient and steered by the Martian topography. At high obliquity, the cross-equatorial near surface flow from the winter to the summer hemisphere is strongly enhanced compared to low obliquity periods. The summer ground temperature ranges from 200 K (φ=15°) to 250 K (φ=35°) at 80°N in northern summer, and from 220 K (φ=15°) to 270 K (φ=35°) at 80°S in southern summer. In the atmosphere at 1 km above ground, the respective range is 195-225 K in northern summer, and 210-250 K in southern summer. 相似文献
4.
Mars General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations are presented to illustrate the importance of the ice emissivity of the seasonal CO2 polar caps in regulating the effects of airborne dust on the martian CO2 cycle. Simulated results show that atmospheric dust suppresses CO2 condensation when the CO2 ice emissivity is high but enhances it when the CO2 ice emissivity is low. This raises the possibility that the reason for the repeatable nature of the CO2 cycle in the presence of a highly variable dust cycle is that the CO2 ice emissivity is “neutral” - the value that leads to no change in CO2 condensation with changing atmospheric dust. For this GCM, the “neutral” emissivity is approximately 0.55, which is low compared to observed cap emissivities. This inconsistency poses a problem for this hypothesis. However, it is clear that the CO2 ice emissivity is a critical physical parameter in determining how atmospheric dust affects the CO2 cycle on Mars. 相似文献
5.
We report on new retrievals of water vapor column abundances from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data. The new retrievals are from the TES nadir data taken above the ‘cold’ surface areas in the North polar region (Tsurf < 220 K, including seasonal frost and permanent ice cap) during spring and summer seasons, where retrievals were not performed initially. Retrievals are possible (with some modifications to the original algorithm) over cold surfaces overlaid by sufficiently warm atmosphere. The retrieved water vapor column abundances are compared to the column abundances observed by other spacecrafts in the Northern polar region during spring and summer and good agreement is found. We detect an annulus of water vapor growing above the edge of the retreating seasonal cap during spring. The formation of the vapor annulus is consistent with the previously proposed mechanism for water cycling in the polar region, according to which vapor released by frost sublimation during spring re-condenses on the retreating seasonal CO2 cap. The source of the vapor in the vapor annulus, according to this model, is the water frost on the surface of the CO2 at the retreating edge of the cap and the frost on the ground that is exposed by the retreating cap. Small contribution from regolith sources is possible too, but cannot be quantified based on the TES vapor data alone. Water vapor annulus exhibits interannual variability, which we attribute to variations in the atmospheric temperature. We propose that during spring and summer the water ice sublimation is retarded by high relative humidity of the local atmosphere, and that higher atmospheric temperatures lead to higher vapor column abundances by increasing the water holding capacity of the atmosphere. Since the atmospheric temperatures are strongly influenced by the atmospheric dust content, local dust storms may be controlling the release of vapor into the polar atmosphere. Water vapor abundances above the residual polar cap also exhibit noticeable interannual variability. In some years abundances above the cap are lower than the abundances outside of the cap, consistent with previous observations, while in the other years the abundances above the cap are higher or similar to abundances outside of the cap. We speculate that the differences may be due to weaker off-cap transport in the latter case, keeping more vapor closer to the source at the surface of the residual cap. Despite the large observed variability in water vapor column abundances in the Northern polar region during spring and summer, the latitudinal distribution of the vapor mass in the atmosphere is very similar during the summer season. If the variability in vapor abundances is caused by the variability of vapor sources across the residual cap then this would mean that they annually contribute relatively little vapor mass to significantly affect the vapor mass budget. Alternatively this may suggest that the vapor variability is caused by the variability of the polar atmospheric circulation. The new water vapor retrievals should be useful in tuning the Global Circulation Models of the martian water cycle. 相似文献
6.
The condensing CO2 south polar cap of Mars and the mechanisms of the CO2 ice accumulation have been studied through the analysis of spectra acquired by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) during the first two years of ESA's Mars Express (MEX) mission. This dataset spans more than half a martian year, from Ls∼330° to Ls∼194°, and includes the southern fall season which is found to be extremely important for the study of the residual south polar cap asymmetry. The cap expands symmetrically and with constant speed during the fall season. The maximum extension occurs sometime in the 80°-90° Ls range, when the cap edges are as low as −40° latitude. Inside Hellas and Argyre basins, frost can be stable at lower latitudes due to the higher pressure values, causing the seasonal cap to be asymmetric. Within the seasonal range considered in this paper, the cap edge recession rate is approximately half the rate at which the cap edge expanded. The longitudinal asymmetries reduce during the cap retreat, and disappear around Ls∼145°. Two different mechanisms are responsible for CO2 ice accumulation during the fall season, especially in the 50°-70° Ls range. Here, CO2 condensation in the atmosphere, and thus precipitation, is allowed exclusively in the western hemisphere, and particularly in the longitudinal corridor of the perennial cap. In the eastern hemisphere, the cap consists mainly of CO2 frost deposits, as a consequence of direct vapor deposition. The differences in the nature of the surface ice deposits are the main cause for the residual south polar cap asymmetry. Results from selected PFS orbits have also been compared with the results provided by the martian general circulation model (GCM) of the Laboratoire de Météorologie dynamique (LMD) in Paris, with the aim of putting the observations in the context of the global circulation. This first attempt of cross-validation between PFS measurements and the LMD GCM on the one hand confirms the interpretation of the observations, and on the other hand shows that the climate modeling during the southern polar night on Mars is extremely sensitive to the dynamical forcing. 相似文献
7.
We performed numerical simulations of the obliquity evolution of Mars during the Noachian era, at which time the giant planets were on drastically different orbits than today. For the preferred primordial configuration of the planets we find that there are two large zones where the martian obliquity is stable and oscillates with an amplitude lower than 20°. These zones occur at obliquities below 30° and above 60°; intermediate values show either resonant or chaotic behaviour depending on the primordial orbits of the terrestrial planets. 相似文献
8.
We present the seasonal and geographical variations of the martian water vapor monitored from the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer Long Wavelength Channel aboard the Mars Express spacecraft. Our dataset covers one martian year (end of Mars Year 26, Mars Year 27), but the seasonal coverage is far from complete. The seasonal and latitudinal behavior of the water vapor is globally consistent with previous datasets, Viking Orbiter Mars Atmospheric Water Detectors (MAWD) and Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (MGS/TES), and with simultaneous results obtained from other Mars Express instruments, OMEGA and SPICAM. However, our absolute water columns are lower and higher by a factor of 1.5 than the values obtained by TES and SPICAM, respectively. In particular, we retrieve a Northern midsummer maximum of 60 pr-μm, lower than the 100-pr-μm observed by TES. The geographical distribution of water exhibits two local maxima at low latitudes, located over Tharsis and Arabia. Global Climate Model (GCM) simulations suggest that these local enhancements are controlled by atmospheric dynamics. During Northern spring, we observe a bulge of water vapor over the seasonal polar cap edge, consistent with the northward transport of water from the retreating seasonal cap to the permanent polar cap. In terms of vertical distribution, we find that the water volume mixing ratio over the large volcanos remains constant with the surface altitude within a factor of two. However, on the whole dataset we find that the water column, normalized to a fixed pressure, is anti-correlated with the surface pressure, indicating a vertical distribution intermediate between control by atmospheric saturation and confinement to a surface layer. This anti-correlation is not reproduced by GCM simulations of the water cycle, which do not include exchange between atmospheric and subsurface water. This situation suggests a possible role for regolith-atmosphere exchange in the martian water cycle. 相似文献
9.
Michael D Smith 《Icarus》2004,167(1):148-165
We use infrared spectra returned by the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) to retrieve atmospheric and surface temperature, dust and water ice aerosol optical depth, and water vapor column abundance. The data presented here span more than two martian years (Mars Year 24, Ls=104°, 1 March 1999 to Mars Year 26, Ls=180°, 4 May 2003). We present an overview of the seasonal (Ls), latitudinal, and longitudinal dependence of atmospheric quantities during this period, as well as an initial assessment of the interannual variability in the current martian climate. We find that the perihelion season (Ls=180°-360°) is relatively warm, dusty, free of water ice clouds, and shows a relatively high degree of interannual variability in dust optical depth and atmospheric temperature. On the other hand, the aphelion season (Ls=0°-180°) is relatively cool, cloudy, free of dust, and shows a low degree of interannual variability. Water vapor abundance shows a moderate amount of interannual variability at all seasons, but the most in the perihelion season. Much of the small amount of interannual variability that is observed in the aphelion season appears to be caused by perihelion-season planet-encircling dust storms. These dust storms increase albedo through deposition of bright dust on the surface causing cooler daytime surface and atmospheric temperatures well after dust optical depth returns to prestorm values. 相似文献
10.
The Mars Atmosphere-Ice Coupler MAIC-2 is a simple, latitudinal model, which consists of a set of parameterisations for the surface temperature, the atmospheric water transport and the surface mass balance (condensation minus evaporation) of water ice. It is driven directly by the orbital parameters obliquity, eccentricity and solar longitude (Ls) of perihelion. Surface temperature is described by the Local Insolation Temperature (LIT) scheme, which uses a daily and latitude-dependent radiation balance. The evaporation rate of water is calculated by an expression for free convection, driven by density differences between water vapor and ambient air, the condensation rate follows from the assumption that any water vapour which exceeds the local saturation pressure condenses instantly, and atmospheric transport of water vapour is approximated by instantaneous mixing. Glacial flow of ice deposits is neglected. Simulations with constant orbital parameters show that low obliquities favour deposition of ice in high latitudes and vice versa. A transient scenario driven by a computed history of orbital parameters over the last 10 million years produces essentially monotonically growing polar ice deposits during the most recent 4 million years, and a very good agreement with the observed present-day polar layered deposits. The thick polar deposits sometimes continue in thin ice deposits which extend far into the mid latitudes, which confirms the idea of “ice ages” at high obliquity. 相似文献
11.
This paper describes General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations of the martian water cycle focusing on the effects of an adsorbing regolith. We describe the 10-layer regolith model used in this study which has been adapted from the 1-D model developed by Zent, A.P., Haberle, R.M., Houben, H.C., Jakosky, B.M. [1993. A coupled subsurface-boundary layer model of water on Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 98 (E2), 3319-3337, February]. Even with a 30-min timestep and taking into account the effect of surface water ice, our fully implicit scheme compares well with the results obtained by Zent, A.P., Haberle, R.M., Houben, H.C., Jakosky, B.M. [1993. A coupled subsurface-boundary layer model of water on Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 98 (E2), 3319-3337, February]. This means, however, that the regolith is not able to reproduce the diurnal variations in column water vapour abundance of up to a factor of 2-3 as seen in some observations, with only about 10% of the atmospheric water vapour column exchanging with the subsurface on a daily basis. In 3-D simulations we find that the regolith adsorbs water preferentially in high latitudes. This is especially true in the northern hemisphere, where perennial subsurface water ice builds up poleward of 60° N at depths which are comparable to the Odyssey observations. Much less ice forms in the southern high latitudes, which suggests that the water ice currently present in the martian subsurface is not stable under present conditions and is slowly subliming and being deposited in the northern hemisphere. When initialising the model with an Odyssey-like subsurface water ice distribution the model is capable of forcing the simulated water cycle from an arbitrary state close to the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer observations. Without the actions of the adsorbing regolith the equilibrated water cycle is found to be a factor of 2-4 too wet. The process by which this occurs is by adsorption of water during northern hemisphere summer in northern mid and high latitudes where it remains locked in until northern spring when the seasonal CO2 ice cap retreats. At this time the water diffuses out of the regolith in response to increased temperature and is returned to the residual water ice cap by eddie transport. 相似文献
12.
Caroline Thomas Olivier Mousis Sylvain Picaud Vincent Ballenegger 《Planetary and Space Science》2009,57(1):42-47
Recent observations have evidenced traces of methane (CH4) heterogeneously distributed in the martian atmosphere. However, because the lifetime of CH4 in the atmosphere of Mars is estimated to be around 300-600 years on the basis of photochemistry, its release from a subsurface reservoir or an active primary source of methane have been invoked in the recent literature. Among the existing scenarios, it has been proposed that clathrate hydrates located in the near subsurface of Mars could be at the origin of the small quantities of the detected CH4. Here, we accurately determine the composition of these clathrate hydrates, as a function of temperature and gas phase composition, by using a hybrid statistical thermodynamic model based on experimental data. Compared to the other recent works, our model allows us to calculate the composition of clathrate hydrates formed from a more plausible composition of the martian atmosphere by considering its main compounds, i.e. carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon, together with methane. Besides, because there is no low temperature restriction in our model, we are able to determine the composition of clathrate hydrates formed at temperatures corresponding to the extreme ones measured in the polar caps. Our results show that methane enriched clathrate hydrates could be stable in the subsurface of Mars only if a primitive CH4-rich atmosphere has existed or if a subsurface source of CH4 has been (or is still) present. 相似文献
13.
We use a Mars general circulation model to examine the effect of orbital changes on the planet’s general circulation and climate system. Experiments are performed for obliquities ranging from 0° to 60° for two different longitudes of perihelion. Each experiment simulates a full Mars year assuming a fixed atmospheric dust distribution and fixed amount of CO2 in the atmosphere/cap system. We find that global mean surface temperatures and pressures decline with increasing obliquity due to the increasing extent of the winter polar caps. The seasonal CO2 cycle and intensity of the solstice circulation amplify considerably with increasing obliquity such that global dust storms are likely at both solstices. The most significant feature of the high obliquity solstice circulations is the development of an intense low-level jet associated with the return branch of the Hadley circulation.Model surface stresses are used to map regions of preferred dust lifting, which are defined in terms of an annual deflation potential. For the present obliquity, the model-predicted regions of high deflation potential are in good agreement with Cantor et al.’s (2001, J. Geophys. Res.106, 23653-23688) observations, which gives us some confidence in the model’s ability to predict where lifting might occur when Mars’ orbit parameters are different than they are today. In general we find that the dust lifting potential increases sharply with obliquity and is greatest at times of high obliquity when perihelion coincides with northern summer solstice. Over an obliquity cycle, the model global annual deflation potential ranges from several tenths of a millimeter at 0° obliquity to almost 15 mm at 60° obliquity. Much higher values are possible when the atmosphere is very dusty.We find a strong correlation between the deflation potential and surface thermal inertia: regions of high deflation potential correspond to regions of high thermal inertia (high rock abundance), and regions of low deflation potential correspond to regions of low thermal inertia (high dust/sand abundance). Furthermore, while the regions of preferred lifting (high deflation potential) expand somewhat with increasing obliquity and dust loading, the central parts of Tharsis, Arabia, and Elysium show no tendency for significant lifting at any obliquity or longitude of perihelion. These regions may therefore be very old and represent net long-term sinks for atmospheric dust. It is the topography of the planet, through its influence on surface pressure and wind systems, which ultimately determines where dust accumulates.Finally, as was found by Fenton and Richardson (2001, J. Geophys. Res.106, 32885-32909), we find no tendency for the development of east-southeasterly winds at the Pathfinder site for any of our orbital change experiments. This suggests that the ancient wind regime discussed by Greeley et al. (2000, J. Geophys. Res.105, 1829-1840) was produced by other factors, such as polar wander. 相似文献
14.
Exchange of CO2 and H2O between the Mars regolith and the atmosphere-cap system plays an important role in governing the evolution of the martian atmosphere and the martian climate. Most of the exchangeable CO2 (perhaps one or two orders of magnitude more than the atmospheric inventory) is currently adsorbed on the deep regolith, and can be “cryopumped” to a large quasipermanent CO2 cap (not now present) during lowest Mars obliquity (θ). During the obliquity driven regolith-cap CO2 exchange cycle, the atmospheric pressure varies harmonically between ~0.1 mb (lowest Θ) and ? 20 mb (highest Θ). The regolith buffer plays only a small or negligible role in the seasonal CO2 pressure variations caused by atmosphere-cap exchange because adsorption greatly inhibits diffusion of the seasonal “pressure wave” into the regolith. In contrast, thermally driven H2O seasonal exchange between the atmosphere and regolith appears to be in large part responsible for observed seasonal variations in the small atmospheric H2O inventory. Long term exchange of H2O may be dominated by transfer between the polar caps and ice in the regolith. Available and potential tests of regolith-atmospheric-cap volatile exchange models using ground-based and spacecraft-based techniques are discussed. 相似文献
15.
The residual south polar cap of Mars (RSPC) is distinct from the residual north polar cap both in composition and in morphology. CO2 frost in the RSPC is stabilized by its high albedo during southern spring and summer despite the relatively large insolation during that period. The morphology of the RSPC in summer displays a bewildering variety of depressions that are formed in relatively thin layers of CO2. The increase of the size of these depressions between each of the first three years of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) observations may possibly signal some sort of climate change on the planet. For example, the erosion of the bright plateaus might reduce the RSPC albedo and affect the energy balance. The Mars Orbiter Cameras (MOC) on MGS observed Mars for four consecutive martian years before contact with the spacecraft was lost in late 2006. During this period coverage of the polar regions was particularly dense because MGS flew over them on every orbit. In this paper we report on the four-year behavior of the morphological features in the RSPC and on the large-scale variability in RSPC albedo over the period. The changes in the size of the surface features in the RSPC due to backwasting that were first observed between Mars years (MY) 24 and 25 and subsequently between MY25 and M26 was observed to continue at the same rate through MY 27. The results indicate that on average thicker layers in the RSPC retreat faster than thinner ones, roughly in proportion to their thickness. We argue that a simple difference in porosity between the A and B layers can explain this difference although other factors could be involved. The large-scale albedo of the RSPC decreases as the depressions are uncovered by sublimation of seasonal CO2. However, any interannual differences in albedo due to the backwasting process are masked by interannual differences in the summer dust opacity in the RSPC region. 相似文献
16.
The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are an excellent analog of the environment at the surface of Mars. Soil formation histories involving slow processes of sublimation and migration of water-soluble ions in polar desert environments are characteristic of both Mars and the Dry Valleys. At the present time, the environment in the Dry Valleys is probably the most similar to that in the mid-latitudes on Mars although similar conditions may be found in areas of the polar regions during their respective Mars summers. It is thought that Mars is currently in an interglacial period, and that subsurface water ice is sublimating poleward. Because the Mars sublimation zones seem to be the most similar to the Antarctic Dry Valleys, the Dry Valleys-type Mars climate is migrating towards the poles. Mars has likely undergone drastic obliquity changes, which means that the Dry Valleys analog to Mars may be valid for large parts of Mars, including the polar regions, at different times in geologic history. Dry Valleys soils contain traces of silicate alteration products and secondary salts much like those found in Mars meteorites. A martian origin for some of the meteorite secondary phases has been verified previously; it can be based on the presence of shock effects and other features which could not have formed after the rocks were ejected from Mars, or demonstrable modification of a feature by the passage of the meteorite through Earth's atmosphere (proving the feature to be pre-terrestrial). The martian weathering products provide critical information for deciphering the near-surface history of Mars. Definite martian secondary phases include Ca-carbonate, Ca-sulfate, and Mg-sulfate. These salts are also found in soils from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Results of earlier Wright Valley work are consistent with what is now known about Mars based on meteorite and orbital data. Results from recent and current Mars missions support this inference. Aqueous processes are active even in permanently frozen Antarctic Dry Valleys soils, and similar processes are probably also occurring on Mars today, especially at the mid-latitudes. Both weathering products and life in Dry Valleys soils are distributed heterogeneously. Such variations should be taken into account in future studies of martian soils and also in the search for possible life on Mars. 相似文献
17.
During the past 4 Mars years, Mars Orbiter Camera imaging capabilities have been used to document occurrence of seasonal patches of frost at latitudes as low as 33° S, and even 24° S. Monitoring reveals bright patches on pole-facing slopes; these appear in early southern winter and disappear in mid winter. The frost forms annually. Thermal Emission Spectrometer and daytime Thermal Emission Imaging System observations show surface temperatures on and near pole facing slopes reach the condensation temperature of CO2, indicating the patches consist of carbon dioxide rather than water frost. For several months, temperatures on pole-facing crater walls are so low that even carbon dioxide condenses on them, although the slopes are illuminated by the Sun every day. Thermal model calculations show slopes accumulate a several centimeter thick layer of CO2 frost. The frost becomes visible only months after it has begun to form, and has an orientational preference which is due to illumination bias at the time of observation. H2O condenses at higher temperatures and water frost must therefore also be present. Potential opportunities to observe seasonal water frost at low latitudes are also described. 相似文献
18.
Dusty water-ice snowpacks on Mars may provide a habitable zone for DNA based photosynthetic life. Previous work has over estimated the depths and thicknesses of such photohabitable zones by not considering the effect of red dust within the snowpack. For the summer solar solstice, at 80°N and a surface albedo of 0.45, there is a calculated photohabitable zone in the snowpack between depths of 5.5 and 7.5 cm. For an albedo of 0.62, there is a calculated photohabitable zone in the snowpack between depths of 8 and 11 cm. A coupled atmosphere-snow radiative-transfer model was set to model the Photosynthetic Active Radiation and DNA dose rates through water-ice snow at the north polar region of Mars. The optical properties of the polar caps were determined by creating a laboratory analogue to the Mars north polar deposits, and directly measuring light penetration and albedo. It is important for future exobiology missions to the polar regions of Mars to consider the implications of these findings, as drilling to depths of ∼11 cm should be sufficient to determine whether life exists within the martian snows, whether it is photosynthetic or otherwise, as at this depth the snow cover will provide a permanent protection from DNA damaging UV radiation. 相似文献
19.
Owen B. Toon James B. Pollack William Ward Joseph A. Burns Kenneth Bilski 《Icarus》1980,44(3):552-607
We examine the response of Martian climate to changes in solar energy deposition caused by variations of the Martian orbit and obliquity. We systematically investigate the seasonal cycles of carbon dioxide, water, and dust to provide a complete picture of the climate for various orbital configurations. We find that at low obliquity (15°) the atmospheric pressure will fall below 1 mbar; dust storms will cease; thick permanent CO2 caps will form; the regolith will release CO2; and H2O polar ice sheets will develop as the permafrost boundaries move poleward. At high obliquity (35°) the annual average polar temperature will increase by about 10°K, slightly desorbing the polar regolith and causing the atmospheric pressure to increase by not more than 10 to 20 mbar. Summer polar ground temperatures as high as 273°K will occur. Water ice caps will be unstable and may disappear as the equilibrium permafrost boundary moves equatorward. However, at high eccentricity, polar ice sheets will be favored at one pole over the other. At high obliquity dust storms may occur during summers in both hemispheres, independent of the eccentricity cycle. Eccentricity and longitude of perihelion are most significant at modest obliquity (25°). At high eccentricity and when the longitude of perihelion is close to the location of solstice hemispherical asymmetry in dust-storm generation and in polar ice extent and albedo will occur.The systematic examination of the relation of climate and planetary orbit provides a new theory for the formation of the polar laminae. The terraced structure of the polar laminae originates when eccentricity and/or obliquity variations begin to drive water ice off the dusty permanent H2O polar caps. Then a thin (meters) layer of consolidated dust forms on top of a dirty, slightly thicker (tens of meters) ice sheet and the composite is preserved as a layer of laminae composed predominately of water ice. Because of insolation variation on slopes, a series of poleward- and equatorward-facing scarps are formed where the edges of the laminae are exposed. Independently of orbital variations, these scarps propagate poleward both by erosion of the equatorward slopes and by deposition on the poleward slopes. Scarp propagation resurfaces and recycles the laminae forming the distinctive spiral bands of terraces observed and provides a supply of water to form new permanent ice caps. The polar laminae boundary marks the furthest eqautorward extension of the permanent H2O caps as the orbit varies. The polar debris boundary marks the furthest equatorward extension of the annual CO2 caps as the orbit varies.The Martian regolith is now a significant geochemical sink for carbon dioxide. CO2 has been irreversibly removed from the atmosphere by carbonate formation. CO2 has also benn removed by regolith adsorption. Polar temperature increases caused by orbital variations are not great enough 相似文献
20.
The martian elastic lithosphere thickness Te has recently been constrained by modeling the geodynamical response to loading at the martian polar caps and Te was found to exceed 300 km at the north pole today. Geological evidence suggests that Mars has been volcanically active in the recent past and we have reinvestigated the martian thermal evolution, identifying models which are consistent with Te>300 km and the observed recent magmatic activity. We find that although models satisfying both constraints can be constructed, special assumptions regarding the concentration and distribution of radioactive elements, the style of mantle convection and/or the mantle's volatile content need to be made. If a dry mantle rheology is assumed, strong plumes caused by, e.g., a strongly pressure dependent mantle viscosity or endothermic phase transitions near the core-mantle boundary are required to allow for decompression melting in the heads of mantle plumes. For a wet mantle, large mantle water contents of the order of 1000 ppm are required to allow for partial mantle melting. Also, for a moderate crustal enrichment of heat producing, elements the planet's bulk composition needs to be 25 and 50% sub-chondritic for dry and wet mantle rheologies, respectively. Even then, models resulting in a globally averaged elastic thicknesses of Te>300 km are difficult to reconcile with most elastic thickness estimates available for the Hesperian and Amazonian periods. It therefore seems likely that large elastic thicknesses in excess of 300 km are not representative for the bulk of the planet and that Te possibly shows a large degree of spatial heterogeneity. 相似文献