A Full Martian Year of Atmospheric Monitoring Movies From Gale Crater 

Jacob Lawrence Kloos1, John E Moores2, Raymond Francis3, Mark T Lemmon4, Manuel de la Torre Juarez5, David M Kass6, Robert Michael Haberle7, Javier Martín-Torres8 and María-Paz Zorzano8, (1)York University, Toronto, Canada, (2)York University, Earth & Space Science & Engineering, Toronto, ON, Canada, (3)University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, (4)Space Science Institute, Boulder, United States, (5)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (6)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (7)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States, (8)Centro de Astrobiologia, Madrid, Spain

Contact First Author: Jacob Lawrence Kloos; jlkloos@yorku.ca

Abstract ID#: 34387

 

English Abstract:
Using images from the Navigation Camera (NavCam) onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover Curiosity, atmospheric movies were created to discern time-variable features, such as clouds, across a series of images. To detect these features, two different pointings of the NavCam were used: a vertical pointing, used to create Zenith movies, and a more horizontal pointing aimed just above Mt. Sharp, used to create Supra-Horizon movies. The analysis of these movies over long timescales allow large-scale atmospheric patterns to become apparent.

Now, with a full Martian year of atmospheric monitoring movies, seasonal trends in the water cycle and optical depth within Gale Crater have become noticeable. Of the 65 Zenith movies and 74 Supra-Horizon movies collected during the first 334 sols of the mission (LS 150° to 350°), features were apparent in 22 of each, most of these occurring before sol 60. During the second half of the first Martian year (sols 335- 668), 25 of the 46 Zenith movies acquired showed some discernible feature upon mean-frame subtraction. The increase in cloud features can in part be attributed to the cooler temperatures and increased humidity within the crater due to Mars approaching aphelion near sol 475 (LS 60°). 

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