Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars

The Mars implementation of the Planet Weather Research and Forecasting (PlanetWRF) model, MarsWRF, is used here to simulate the atmospheric conditions at Gale Crater for different seasons during a period coincident with the Curiosity rover operations. The model is first evaluated with the existing s...

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Autores: Fonseca, Ricardo M., Zorzano, María Paz, Martín Torres, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/214748
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/214748
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Mars
Atmosphere
Dynamics
Curiosity
Planetary boundary layer
MarsWRF
id ES_82cf06fa8229a1454a2ee5a5e9c2bb32
oai_identifier_str oai:digital.csic.es:10261/214748
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
title Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
spellingShingle Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
Fonseca, Ricardo M.
Mars
Atmosphere
Dynamics
Curiosity
Planetary boundary layer
MarsWRF
title_short Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
title_full Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
title_fullStr Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
title_full_unstemmed Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
title_sort Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, Mars
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Fonseca, Ricardo M.
Zorzano, María Paz
Martín Torres, Javier
author Fonseca, Ricardo M.
author_facet Fonseca, Ricardo M.
Zorzano, María Paz
Martín Torres, Javier
author_role author
author2 Zorzano, María Paz
Martín Torres, Javier
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Mars
Atmosphere
Dynamics
Curiosity
Planetary boundary layer
MarsWRF
topic Mars
Atmosphere
Dynamics
Curiosity
Planetary boundary layer
MarsWRF
description The Mars implementation of the Planet Weather Research and Forecasting (PlanetWRF) model, MarsWRF, is used here to simulate the atmospheric conditions at Gale Crater for different seasons during a period coincident with the Curiosity rover operations. The model is first evaluated with the existing single-point observations from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), and is then used to provide a larger scale interpretation of these unique measurements as well as to give complementary information where there are gaps in the measurements. The variability of the planetary boundary layer depth may be a driver of the changes in the local dust and trace gas content within the crater. Our results show that the average time when the PBL height is deeper than the crater rim increases and decreases with the same rate and pattern as Curiosity's observations of the line-of-sight of dust within the crater and that the season when maximal (minimal) mixing is produced is L-s 225 degrees-315 degrees (L-s 90 degrees-110 degrees). Thus the diurnal and seasonal variability of the PBL depth seems to be the driver of the changes in the local dust content within the crater. A comparison with the available methane measurements suggests that changes in the PBL depth may also be one of the factors that accounts for the observed variability, with the model results pointing towards a local source to the north of the MSL site. The interaction between regional and local flows at Gale Crater is also investigated assuming that the meridional wind, the dynamically important component of the horizontal wind at Gale, anomalies with respect to the daily mean can be approximated by a sinusoidal function as they typically oscillate between positive (south to north) and negative (north to south) values that correspond to upslope/downslope or downslope/upslope regimes along the crater rim and Mount Sharp slopes and the dichotomy boundary. The smallest magnitudes are found in the northern crater floor in a region that comprises Bradbury Landing, in particular at Ls 90 when they are less than 1 m s(-1), indicating very little lateral mixing with outside air. The largest amplitudes occur in the south-western portions of the crater where they can exceed 20 m s-1. Should the slope flows along the crater rims interact with the dichotomy boundary flow, which is more likely at L-s 270 degrees and very unlikely at L-s 90 degrees, they are likely to interact constructively for a few hours from late evening to nighttime (similar to 17-23 LMST) and from pre-dawn to early morning (similar to 5-11 LMST) hours at the norther crater rim and destructively at night (similar to 22-23 LMST) and in the morning (similar to 10-11 LMST) at the southern crater rim. We conclude that a better understanding of the PBL and circulation dynamics has important implications for the variability of the concentration of dust, non-condensable and trace gases at the bottom of other craters on Mars as mixing with outside air can be achieved vertically, through changes in the PBL depth, and laterally, by the transport of air into and out of the crater. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2020
2020
2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/214748
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/214748
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.11.036
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier BV
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier BV
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Planetary boundary layer and circulation dynamics at Gale Crater, MarsFonseca, Ricardo M.Zorzano, María PazMartín Torres, JavierMarsAtmosphereDynamicsCuriosityPlanetary boundary layerMarsWRFThe Mars implementation of the Planet Weather Research and Forecasting (PlanetWRF) model, MarsWRF, is used here to simulate the atmospheric conditions at Gale Crater for different seasons during a period coincident with the Curiosity rover operations. The model is first evaluated with the existing single-point observations from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), and is then used to provide a larger scale interpretation of these unique measurements as well as to give complementary information where there are gaps in the measurements. The variability of the planetary boundary layer depth may be a driver of the changes in the local dust and trace gas content within the crater. Our results show that the average time when the PBL height is deeper than the crater rim increases and decreases with the same rate and pattern as Curiosity's observations of the line-of-sight of dust within the crater and that the season when maximal (minimal) mixing is produced is L-s 225 degrees-315 degrees (L-s 90 degrees-110 degrees). Thus the diurnal and seasonal variability of the PBL depth seems to be the driver of the changes in the local dust content within the crater. A comparison with the available methane measurements suggests that changes in the PBL depth may also be one of the factors that accounts for the observed variability, with the model results pointing towards a local source to the north of the MSL site. The interaction between regional and local flows at Gale Crater is also investigated assuming that the meridional wind, the dynamically important component of the horizontal wind at Gale, anomalies with respect to the daily mean can be approximated by a sinusoidal function as they typically oscillate between positive (south to north) and negative (north to south) values that correspond to upslope/downslope or downslope/upslope regimes along the crater rim and Mount Sharp slopes and the dichotomy boundary. The smallest magnitudes are found in the northern crater floor in a region that comprises Bradbury Landing, in particular at Ls 90 when they are less than 1 m s(-1), indicating very little lateral mixing with outside air. The largest amplitudes occur in the south-western portions of the crater where they can exceed 20 m s-1. Should the slope flows along the crater rims interact with the dichotomy boundary flow, which is more likely at L-s 270 degrees and very unlikely at L-s 90 degrees, they are likely to interact constructively for a few hours from late evening to nighttime (similar to 17-23 LMST) and from pre-dawn to early morning (similar to 5-11 LMST) hours at the norther crater rim and destructively at night (similar to 22-23 LMST) and in the morning (similar to 10-11 LMST) at the southern crater rim. We conclude that a better understanding of the PBL and circulation dynamics has important implications for the variability of the concentration of dust, non-condensable and trace gases at the bottom of other craters on Mars as mixing with outside air can be achieved vertically, through changes in the PBL depth, and laterally, by the transport of air into and out of the crater. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.We are grateful to the MSL science team for their hard work since the beginning of the mission, and in particular, during operations. The simulations presented in this paper were performed on resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC) at the High Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N). We would like to thank Claire Newman and an anonymous reviewer for their detailed and insightful comments and suggestions that helped to improve the quality of the paper.Elsevier BVSwedish National Infrastructure for ComputingConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2020202020182020info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/214748reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.11.036Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/2147482026-05-22T06:33:51Z
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