North polar frontal clouds and dust storms on Mars during spring and summer |
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| Authors: | Huiqun Wang Jenny A Fisher |
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| Institution: | a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
b School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA |
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| Abstract: | The complete archive of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Mars Daily Global Maps (MDGM) are used to study north polar clouds and dust storms that exhibit frontal structures during the spring and summer (Ls 0-180°). Results show that frontal events generally follow the edge of the polar cap during spring and mid/late summer with a gap in the distribution in early summer. The exact duration and timing of the gap vary from year to year. Ten to twenty percent of spring and summer time frontal events exhibit complex morphologies. Distinct temperature signatures are associated with features observed in images in many but not all cases. The general travel paths of the frontal events are eastward around the polar cap. Westward paths exist only at the edge of the polar cap in late spring/early summer. Occasionally, the paths curve toward or away from the polar cap in certain longitude sectors. |
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| Keywords: | Mars |
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