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NASA NTRS2016

Assessment of Models of Galactic Thermal Dust Emission Using COBE/FIRAS and COBE/DIRBE Observations

Accurate modeling of the spectrum of thermal dust emission at millimeter wavelengths is important for improving the accuracy of foreground subtraction for cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements, for improving the accuracy with which the contributions of different foreground emission components can be determined, and for improving our understanding of dust composition and dust physics. We fit four models of dust emission to high Galactic latitude COBE/FIRAS and COBE/DIRBE observations from 3 mm to 100m and compare the quality of the fits. We consider the two-level systems (TLS) model because it provides a physically motivated explanation for the observed long wavelength flattening of the dust spectrum and the anti-correlation between emissivity index and dust temperature. We consider the model of Finkbeiner et al. because it has been widely used for CMB studies, and the generalized version of this model that was recently applied to Planck data by Meisner and Finkbeiner. For comparison we have also fit a phenomenological model consisting of the sum of two-graybody components. We find that the two-graybody model gives the best fit and the FDS model gives a significantly poorer fit than the othermodels. The Meisner and Finkbeiner model and the TLS model remain viable for use in Galactic foreground subtraction, but the FIRAS data do not have a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to provide a strong test of the predicted spectrum at millimeter wavelengths.

Odegard, N.↗
NASA NTRS1993

New dust opacity mapping from Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper data

Global dust opacity mapping for Mars has been carried forward using the approach described by Martin (1986) for Viking IR Thermal Mapper data. New maps are presented for the period from the beginning of Viking observations, until Ls 210 deg in 1979 (1.36 Mars years). This range includes the second and more extensive planet-encircling dust storm observed by Viking, known as storm 1977b. Improvements in approach result in greater time resolution and smaller noise than in the earlier work. A strong local storm event filled the Hellas basin at Ls 170 deg, prior to the 1977a storm. Dust is retained in equatorial regions following the 1977b storm far longer than in mid-latitudes. Minor dust events appear to raise the opacity in northern high latitudes during northern spring. Additional mapping with high time resolution has been done for the periods of time near the major storm origins in order to search for clues to the mechanism of storm initiation. The first evidence of the start of the 1977b storm is pushed back to Ls 274.2 deg, preceding signs of the storm in images by about 15 hours.

Martin, Terry Z.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Seasonal wind variations in the Martian subtropics

A possible initiation mechanism for global dust storms was raised by describing a new analysis of winds at Viking Lander I, the Mutch Memorial Station, at 28 deg N latitude. It was shown that strong winds associated with an eastward propagation planetary wave coincided with the onset of a major dust storm at that site, and it was speculated that these high latitude winter systems may sometimes contribute to the initiation of Martian global dust storms.

Murphy, James↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The B Regional Dust Storm in the New NASA Ames Mars GCM

Introduction The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instruments have been ob- serving global dust and temperature on Mars twice daily for a combined ∼12 Mars Years (MYs). Analysis of these data by [5] reveal three highly repeatable, regional scale dust events occurring annually during years lack- ing a global dust storm (GDS). Named the "A," "B," and "C" storms in seasonal order, these recurring dust storms develop in the southern hemisphere of Mars during the perihelion season(Ls =180°–360°)when Mars is closest to the sun and the southern hemisphere experiences sum- mer [5]. The "A" and "C" storms occur in the southern midlatitudes where they amplify the Hadley circulation causing dynamical warming in the northern hemisphere. In contrast, the "B" storm (hereafter, B storm) and its ef- fects are entirely confined to the south pole [5]. All three storms are large enough to inject dust above the boundary layer [8]. As a result, the annually-recurring regional storms produce significant temperature perturbations in the middle atmosphere, raising zonal mean 50 Pa ( 25 km) temperatures above 200 K (Figure 1) [5]. In this work, we seek to identify the mechanisms responsible for lofting dust into the middle atmosphere during the B storm by simulating the storm with the new NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM). We find that the simulated B storm is driven by a series of dust plumes that form in the high southern latitudes during southern summer solstice. We also find that radiative-dynamic feedbacks between airborne dust and incoming shortwave radiation are crucial for the pluming mechanism.

C M L Batterson↗
NASA NTRS1984

Infrared cirrus - New components of the extended infrared emission

Extended sources of far-infrared emission superposed on the zodiacal and galactic backgrounds are found at high galactic latitudes and near the ecliptic plane. Clouds of interstellar dust at color temperatures as high as 35 K account for much of this complex structure, but the relationship to H I column density is not simple. Other features of the extended emission show the existence of warm structures within the solar system. Three bands of dust clouds at temperatures of 150-200 K appear within 10 deg on both sides of the ecliptic plane. Their ecliptic latitudes and derived distances suggest that they are associated with the main asteroid belt. A third component of the 100-micron cirrus, poorly correlated with H I, may represent cold material in the outer solar system or a new component of the interstellar medium.

Low, F. J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Extratropical Weather Systems on Mars: Radiatively-Active Water Ice Effects

Extratropical, large-scale weather disturbances, namely transient, synoptic-period,baroclinic barotropic eddies - or - low- (high-) pressure cyclones (anticyclones), are components fundamental to global circulation patterns for rapidly rotating, differentially heated, shallow atmospheres such as Earth and Mars. Such "wave-like" disturbances that arise via (geophysical) fluid shear instability develop, mature and decay, and travel west-to-east in the middle and high latitudes within terrestrial-like planetary atmospheres. These disturbances serve as critical agents in the transport of heat and momentum between low and high latitudes of the planet. Moreover, they transport trace species within the atmosphere (e.g., water vapor/ice, other aerosols (dust), chemical species, etc). Between early autumn through early spring, middle and high latitudes on Mars exhibit strong equator-to-pole mean temperature contrasts (i.e., "baroclinicity"). Data collected during the Viking era and observations from both the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate that such strong baroclinicity supports vigorous, large-scale eastward traveling weather systems [Banfield et al., 2004; Barnes et al., 1993]. A good example of traveling weather systems, frontal wave activity and sequestered dust activity from MGS/MOC image analyses is provided in Figure 1 (cf. Wang et al. [2005]). Utilizing an upgraded and evolving version of the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Mars global climate model, investigated here are key dynamical and physical aspects of simulated northern hemisphere (NH) large-scale extratropica lweather systems,with and without radiatively-active water ice clouds. Mars Climate Model:

cyclones↗
NASA NTRS1986

Polar warming in the middle atmosphere of Mars

During the 1984 Mars opposition, ground-based laser heterodyne spectroscopy was obtained for the nonthermal core emission of the 10.33-micron R(8) and 10.72-micron P(32) lines of C-12(O-16)2 at 23 locations on the Martian disk. It is deduced on the basis of these data that the temperature of the middle Martian atmosphere varies with latitude, and a meridional gradient of 0.4-0.9 K/deg latitude is indicated. The highest temperatures are noted to lie at high latitudes in the winter hemisphere; as in the terrestrial case of seasonal effects at the menopause, this winter polar warming in the Martian middle atmosphere requires departures from radiative equilibrium. Two-dimensional circulation model comparisons with these results indicate that atmospheric dust may enhance this dynamical heating at high winter latitudes.

Deming, D.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Modeling Mars Cyclogenesis and Frontal Waves: Seasonal Variations and Implications on Dust Activity

Between late autumn through early spring,middle and high latitudes onMars exhibit strong equator-to-polemean temperature contrasts (i.e., "baroclinicity"). Data collected during the Viking era and observations from both the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate that such strong baroclinicity supports vigorous, large-scale eastward traveling weather systems (i.e., transient synoptic period waves) [1, 2]. For a rapidly rotating, differentially heated, shallow atmosphere such as on Earth and Mars, these large-scale, extratropical weather disturbances are critical components of the global circulation. The wave-like disturbances serve as agents in the transport of heat and momentum between low and high latitudes of the planet. Through cyclonic/anticyclonic winds, intense shear deformations, contractions-dilatations in temperature and density, and sharp perturbations amongst atmospheric tracers (i.e., dust, volatiles (e.g., water vapor) and condensates (e.g., water-ice cloud particles)), Mars' extratropical weather systems have significant sub-synoptic scale ramifications by supporting atmospheric frontal waves (Fig. 1).

Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)↗
NASA NTRS1998

South-North and radial traverses through the interplanetary dust cloud

Identical in situ dust detectors are flown on board the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. They record impacts of micrometeoroids in the ecliptic plane at heliocentric distances from 0.7 to 5.4 AU and in a plane almost perpendicular to the ecliptic from -79 deg to +79 deg ecliptic latitude. The combination of both Ulysses and Galileo measurements yield information about the radial and latitudinal distributions of micron and sub-micron sized dust in the solar system. Two types of dust particles were found to dominate the dust flux in interplanetary space: (1) Interplanetary micrometeoroids covering a wide mass range from 10(exp -16) to 10(exp -6) gr are mostly recorded inside 3 AU, and at latitudes below 30 deg; and (2) Interstellar grains with masses between 10(exp -14) and 10(exp -12) gr have been positively identified outside 3 AU near the ecliptic plane and outside 1.8 AU at high ecliptic latitudes (> 50 deg). Interstellar grains move on hyperbolic trajectories through the planetary system and constitute the dominant dust flux (1.5 x 10(exp -4)/ sq m sec) in the outer solar system and at high ecliptic latitudes. In order to compare and analyze the Galileo and Ulysses data sets, a new model is developed based on Divine's (1993) "Five populations of interplanetary meteoroids" model. By using this model, which takes into account the measured velocities and the effect of radiation pressure on small particles, we define four populations of meteoroids on elliptical orbits plus one population on hyperbolic orbits that all can fit the micrometeoroid flux observed by Galileo and Ulysses.

Gruen, E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Interstellar detection of the intersystem line Si II lambda 2335 toward zeta Ophiuchi

We report on the detection of the weak intersystem transistion of Si II lambda 2335 A in the sight line toward zeta Oph using the Ech-B mode (3.5 km/s resolution) of the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph. The high-quality spectrum is characterized by an empirically measured signal-to-noise of 450, in excellent agreement with that expected from photon-statistics. The measured equivalent width of the Si II line is W(sub lambda) = 0.48 +/- 0.12 mA. Using the new experimental f-value of Calamai, Smith, and Bergeson, we find a Si II column density of 2.34 (+/- 0.58) x 10(exp 15) atoms/sq cm and (Si/H)(sub zeta Oph) = 1.78 (+/- 0.44) x 10(exp -6) for the principal absorbing component(s) at v(sub sun) approx. = -15 km/s. Analysis of the Si II lambda 1808 absorption over the same velocity range using the new experimental f-value of Bergeson & Lawler yields a column density (corrected for saturation) that is consistent within the weak line errors and confirms the relative accuracies of these new f-values. Furthermore, these results indicate that accurate abundances can now be derived for Si II, particularly from the weak Si II lambda 2335 A since it is free of saturation effects. For the zeta Oph v(sub sun) approx. = -15 km/s component(s), we find that greater than 95% of the available cosmic abundance (i.e. the 1989 meteoritic abundances of Anders & Grevesse) of Mg, Fe, and Si is 'missing' from the gas phase and is presumably locked up in the dust. These elements are present in the dust grains in ratios of Fe/Si approximately equals 0.9 and Mg/Si approximately equals 1.1, consistent with the ratio of their cosmic abundances. These ratios are in sharp contrast to more diffuse clouds like those seen toward the high-latitude halo star HD 93521 where in the dust Fe/Si approximately equals 1.8 and Mg/Si approximately equals 2.1.

Cardelli, Jason A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The clouds of Mars as seen by Viking

UV and IR observations of Martian cloud activity by Viking orbiters are reviewed. Localized spiral storms were detected at high northern latitudes during the summer, and both dust and water ice have been associated with the occurrences. Local dust storms formed in spring and summer in the southern hemisphere, and storms along the polar cap edge moved away from the ice covered area on thermally driven downslope winds originating from local variations in thermal inertia. Global dust storms happen nominally during the perihelion of the Martian orbit, although deviations from the pattern have been observed. Condensate clouds were most noticeable around the north polar hood and the Tharsis-Valles Marineris region, with most activity in the spring and summer. Wind speeds were 40 and 85 m/sec in the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere, respectively, with waves having wavelengths from 2-60 km and extending over hundreds of km.

James, P. B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Does UV instrumentation effectively measure ozone abundance?

Measurements of O3 on Mars provide significant information about the chemistry and composition of the atmosphere, including long-term changes. The most extensive and accurate data were inferred from the Mariner 9 UV spectrometer experiment. Mars O3 shows strong seasonal and latitudinal variation, with column abundances ranging from 0.2 microns at equatorial latitudes to 60 microns over the northern winter polar latitudes (1 micron-atm is a column abundance of 2.689 x 10(exp 15) molecules cm(exp-2)). The Mariner 9 UV spectrometer scanned from 2100 to 3500 Angstroms in one of its two spectral channels every 3 seconds with a spectral resolution of 15 Angstroms and an effective field-of-view of approximately 300 km(exp 2). Measurements were made for almost half a Martian year, with winter and spring in the Northern Hemisphere and summer and fall in the Southern Hemisphere. The detectability limit of the spectrometer was approximately 3 microns of ozone. The UV spectrometer on Mariner 9 was incapable of penetrating the dust during dust storms; the single-scattering albedo and phase function of airborne dust and cloud ice are not known to the degree required to extract the small UV signal reflected up from near the surface. The reflectance spectroscopy technique would also have difficulty detecting the total column abundance of O3 in cases where large dust abundances exist together with the polar hood, especially at high latitudes where large solar zenith angles magnify those optical depths; yet these cases would contain the maximum O3, based on theoretical results. It is quite possible that the maximum O3 column abundance observed by Mariner 9 of 60 microns is common. In fact, larger quantities may exist in some of the colder areas with optically thick clouds and dust. As the Viking period often had more atmospheric dust loading than did that of Mariner 9, the reflectance spectroscopy technique may even have been incapable of detecting the entire O3 column abundance during much of the Mars year that Viking observed, particularly at high latitudes.

Lindner, Bernhard Lee↗
NASA NTRS1992

The separation between gas and dust filaments at the edge of the expanding shell in Eridanus

Observations obtained from IRAS for a 120 sq deg region at the boundary of a large expanding shell in Eridanus are presented. It is found that the separation between the structures in the H I and IR emission is not due to a transition of the gas into molecular hydrogen at the location of the IR filaments. The molecular hydrogen column density of these filaments is at least two orders of magnitude below what is typically seen in high-latitude molecular clouds. As the H I and dust in this region are associated with a large expanding shell (or superbubble), the action of shocks and radiation fields may be responsible for the separations of gas and dust. Unless the gas and dust structures are resolved and lie in a favorable viewing geometry, the effect tends to be hidden. The results indicate that it is not always evident, from observations with spatial resolutions coarser than a few arcminutes, how interstellar gas and dust are related.

Verschuur, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Traveling Weather Disturbances in Mars Southern Extratropics: Sway of the Great Impact Basins

As on Earth, between late autumn and early spring on Mars middle and high latitudes within its atmosphere support strong mean thermal contrasts between the equator and poles (i.e. "baroclinicity"). Data collected during the Viking era and observations from both the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate that this strong baroclinicity supports vigorous, large-scale eastward traveling weather systems (i.e. transient synoptic-period waves). Within a rapidly rotating, differentially heated, shallow atmosphere such as on Earth and Mars, such large-scale, extratropical weather disturbances are critical components of the global circulation. These wave-like disturbances act as agents in the transport of heat and momentum, and moreover generalized tracer quantities (e.g., atmospheric dust, water vapor and water-ice clouds) between low and high latitudes of the planet. The character of large-scale, traveling extratropical synoptic-period disturbances in Mars' southern hemisphere during late winter through early spring is investigated using a high-resolution Mars global climate model (Mars GCM). This global circulation model imposes interactively lifted (and radiatively active) dust based on a threshold value of the instantaneous surface stress. Compared to observations, the model exhibits a reasonable "dust cycle" (i.e. globally averaged, a more dusty atmosphere during southern spring and summer occurs). In contrast to their northern-hemisphere counterparts, southern synoptic-period weather disturbances and accompanying frontal waves have smaller meridional and zonal scales, and are far less intense synoptically. Influences of the zonally asymmetric (i.e. east-west varying) topography on southern large-scale weather disturbances are examined. Simulations that adapt Mars' full topography compared to simulations that utilize synthetic topographies emulating essential large-scale features of the southern middle latitudes indicate that Mars' transient barotropic/baroclinic eddies are significantly influenced by the great impact basins of this hemisphere (e.g., Argyre and Hellas). In addition, the occurrence of a southern storm zone in late winter and early spring is keyed particularly to the western hemisphere via orographic influences arising from the Tharsis highlands, and the Argyre and Hellas impact basins. Geographically localized transient-wave activity diagnostics are constructed that illuminate fundamental differences amongst such simulations and these are described.

Weather disturbances↗
NASA NTRS1977

Satellite observations of new infrared sources

Preliminary results are reported for satellite observations of about 1000 IR sources at a wavelength of 2.7 microns. The observations were made in the declination zone between +10 and -10 deg to a limiting flux of 4 by 10 to the -16th power W/sq cm per micron. Of 83 previously unobserved sources, twenty are identified with late-type stars having visual magnitudes of 6 to 9. The nine sources with available luminosity classifications are found to be giant stars, and flux densities at 2.2 and 3.6 microns are predicted for four unreddened stars among these. Three other detected sources are positively identified with red variable stars; twenty more are tentatively identified as such. It is suggested that some of the 40 blank-field 2.7-micron sources detected at high galactic latitude may be Mira variables with thick dust shells located at large distances from the galactic plane.

Heinsheimer, T. F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Extratropical Cyclogenesis and Frontal Waves on Mars: Influences on Dust, Weather and the Planet's climate

Between late autumn and early spring, middle and high latitudes on Mars exhibit strong equatortopole mean temperature contrasts (i.e., "baroclinicity"). Data collected during the Viking era and observations from both the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate that this strong baroclinicity supports vigorous, large-scale eastward traveling weather systems (i.e., transient synoptic periodwaves) [1,2]. For a rapidly rotating, differentially heated, shallow atmosphere such as on Earth and Mars, these large-scale, extratropical weather disturbances are critical components of the global circulation. The wavelike disturbances act as agents in the transport of heat and momentum between low and high latitudes of the planet. Through cyclonic/anticyclonic winds, intense shear deformations, contractions-dilatations in temperature and density, and sharp perturbations amongst atmospheric tracers (i.e., dust, volatiles (e.g., water vapor) and condensates (e.g., water-ice cloud particles)), Mars extratropical weather systems have significant subsynoptic scale ramifications by supporting atmospheric frontal waves (Fig. 1).

Hollingsworth, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Measurements of the millimeter-wave spectrum of interstellar dust emission

We report measurements of the differential brightness of interstellar dust emission near the Galactic plane and at high Galactic latitudes. The data were obtained as part of a program to measure anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The measurements were made with a 0.5 deg beam size and a 1.3 deg sinusoidal chop, in broad bands (Delta nu/nu approximately 0.3) centered near frequencies of 6, 9, and 12 cm(exp -1). A measurement made toward the Galactic plane, at longitude 1 = 23.7 deg, is compared with the contrast observed in the 100 micrometers IRAS data. Assuming the dust emission has a brightness I(sub nu) proportional to nu(sup n)B(sub nu)(T(sub d)), where B(sub nu) is the Planck function, a best fit yields n = 1.6 +/- 0.4, T(sub d) = 24 +/- 5 K. In a region near the star mu Pegasi (mu PEG l = 91 deg, b = -31 deg), the comparison of our data with the 100 micrometers IRAS data yields n = 1.4 +/- 0.4, and T(sub d) = 18 +/- 3 K. In a second region near the star gamma Ursa Minoris (GUM l = 108 deg, b = 41 deg), an upper limit is placed on contrast in dust emission. This upper limit is consistent with spectrum measured at mu PEG and the IRAS 100 micrometer emission contrast at GUM, which is approximately 8 times lower than mu PEG.

Fischer, M. L.↗