Martian Dust and Deposition from Green Valley to Gale Crate

John E Moores1,2, Mark T Lemmon3, Casey A Moore2, Robert Michael Haberle4, Kjartan Münster Kinch5, Kevin W Lewis6, Taesung Ha7, Haraldur Pall Gunnlaugsson8, Scot CR Rafkin9, Henrik Kahanpää10, Francisco J Martin-Torres11, María-Paz Zorzano12 and MSL Science Team, (1)York University, Earth and Space Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada, (2)York University, Earth and Space Science and Engineering, Toronto, ON, Canada, (3)Space Science Institute, Boulder, United States, (4)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States, (5)University of Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, (6)Johns Hopkins University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Baltimore, MD, United States, (7)University of Toronto, Division of Engineering Science, Toronto, ON, Canada, (8)Aarhus University, Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus, Denmark, (9)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (10)Finnish Meteorological Inst, Helsinki, Finland, (11)Centro de Astrobiología, Torrejón De Ardoz, Spain, (12)Centro de Astrobiologia, Madrid, Spain

Contact First Author: John E Moores; jmoores@yorku.ca

Previously Published Material: Dust Deposition on the Phoenix Telltale (Moores et al) accepted for publication in Planetary and Space ScienceSurpressed Boundary Layer during the first 360 days of MSL (Moores et al) is in press at IcarusTheir combination to describe dust & deposition over long timescales is new to this abstract.

Abstract ID#: 34603

 

English Abstract:
The atmosphere and surface of Mars both derive their characteristic colour from the presence of fine micron-sized dust. The two reservoirs are linked with the breakdown of surface materials creating the fine particulates that are lofted and redistributed across the planet. These particulates subsequently accumulate once again where atmospheric conditions permit.

This presentation will examine new data for dust deposition on Mars from recent results of the Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Missions. First, the effect of surface orientation on accumulation rates is examined by comparing the Phoenix SSI Calibration targets with recent work on the wind telltale mirror, inclined at 50 degrees to the horizontal. Next we will describe estimated dust deposition rates from MSL.

The northern part of Gale Crater, where MSL is currently operating, is known to be a sink for dust. The suppressed boundary layer prevents vigorous atmospheric mixing and dust-devil formation and has been observed to be relatively dust-free (see Moore et al., this conference), consistent with a settling environment. As such, this location is a potential analogue for the kinds of environments that may have been involved in the formation of rhythmites on Mars.

To constrain the formation rates of such deposits, data from Gale for line-of-sight optical depth profiles will be used to estimate the net rate of delivery of dust to the surface. This will be compared to the rate of dust accumulating on the MastCam Calibration Targets and REMS UV sensors, as derived from the change in signal observed on these sensors over the first Martian Year of the Mission.

Back to: General Contributions in Planetary Sciences Posters