P23B-2128
Potential Vorticity Structure of the Mars Polar Vortices
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Anthony D Toigo, Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, Darryn Waugh, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, Scott Guzewich, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Luca Montabone, Space Science Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom and Steven J Greybush, Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, University Park, PA, United States
Abstract:
The increasing sophistication of Mars general circulation models (MGCMs) and the availability of regular atmospheric observations have allowed several teams to begin to assimilate these observations into their MGCMs and produce atmospheric reanalyses that enable, among other things, the potential vorticity (PV) structure of the Martian polar vortices to be examined. Here we perform such an analysis using the Mars Analysis Correction Data Assimilation (MACDA, Montabone et al., 2013) and the Ensembles Mars Reanalysis System (EMARS, Greybush et al., 2012) reanalyses together with free-running MGCM simulations. Monthly-mean fields from the reanalyses and MGCMs show strong westerly winds in northern mid-high latitudes during NH winter, with near-zero PV at and equatorward of the maximum winds (jet core) and steep meridional PV gradients poleward of the jet core. Furthermore, in the lower atmosphere the maximum PV occurs off the pole and monthly-mean maps show a continuous ring (annulus) of high PV. On shorter (e.g., daily) time scales a different picture emerges, with maps showing multiple small-scale coherent regions of high PV that rotate around the pole, and only when averaged over monthly times does a high PV annulus appear. A PV budget analysis is performed to examine the cause of the annulus of high PV. We also relate the ring of small-scale vortices to the stability of the PV annulus, and discuss the implications on meridional transport between mid and high latitudes.
