What Are the Origins of Detached Layers of Dust on Mars ? Investigation with Global Climate Model

Abstract:

The climate on Mars is strongly controlled by the amount of dust lifted and transported in the atmosphere, which causes fluctuations of air opacity and affects temperatures and winds. Recently, observations of the vertical dust distribution of the Martian atmosphere by the Mars Climate Sounder on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed a phenomenon which is still poorly understood: the formation of detached layers of dust. These detached layers, also confirmed by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer on-board the Mars Global Surveyor, reside above the planetary boundary layer typically at altitudes between 20 and 40 km and have been mostly observed at low latitudes. These detached layers of dust are not reproduced by Global Climate Models (GCM) and different atmospheric processes are discussed and can be combined to explain their origin, such as small-scale lifting, upslope topographic winds, scavenging by water ice clouds, dust storms… Here we use the Martian GCM developed at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) to simulate the formation of detached layers of dust. To start, we developed a new implementation of the water cycle, taking into account nucleation on dust particles, ice particle growth, and scavenging of dust particles due to the condensation of ice. However, this method didn’t yield to satisfying results in the GCM. Then, we performed the parameterization in the GCM of the so-called “rocket dust storms”, governed by deep convection and able to inject dust at high altitudes in the Martian troposphere. By coupling this new parameterization with general circulation of the GCM, we succeed to model detached layers of dust. Here we present this parameterization and we discuss about the spatial and temporal variability of the detached layers of dust, in comparison with observations.