Related papers: Widespread Excess Ice in Arcadia Planitia, Mars
The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) instrument onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) ESA-Roscosmos mission began science operations in March 2018. ACS Mid InfraRed (MIR) channel notably provides solar occultation observations of the…
Condensation and sublimation of ices at the surface of the planet is a key part of both the Martian H$_2$O and CO$_2$ cycles, either from a seasonal or diurnal aspect. While most of the ice is located within the polar caps, surface frost is…
Laboratory results of the optical properties of vapor-deposited water ice, specifically the refractive index and extinction coefficient, are available mainly for a selective set of wavelengths and a limited number of deposition…
The climate of Mars likely evolved from a warmer, wetter early state to the cold, arid current state. However, no solutions for this evolution have previously been found to satisfy the observed geological features and isotopic measurements…
The role of water ice in the solar system is reviewed from a fluid-dynamical point of view. On Earth and Mars, water ice forms ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers at the surface, which show glacial flow under their own weight. By contrast,…
Mars shares many similarities and characteristics to Earth including various geological features and planetary structure. The remarkable bimodal distribution of elevations in both planets is one of the most striking global features…
Many extrasolar (bound) terrestrial planets and free-floating (unbound) planets have been discovered. The existence of bound and unbound terrestrial planets with liquid water is an important question, and of particular importance is the…
A key outstanding question in Martian science is 'are the polar caps gaining or losing mass and what are the implications for past, current and future climate?' To address this question, we use observations from the Compact Reconnaissance…
Water is abundant in natural environments but the form it resides in planetary interiors remains uncertain. We report combined synchrotron X-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy measurements of H2O in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell…
The time evolution of atmospheric dust at high southern latitudes on Mars has been determined using observations of the south seasonal cap acquired in the near infrared (1-2.65 {\mu}m) by OMEGA/Mars Express in 2005. Observations at…
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) has now made continuous in-situ meteorological measurements for several martian years at Gale crater, Mars. Of importance in the search for liquid formation are…
The martian atmosphere hosts dynamical phenomena ranging from planet-encircling dust storms to mesoscale orographic clouds and nocturnal low-level jets. General circulation model show capability to simulate these phenomena, but is…
We present the first systematic study of clouds observed during twilight on Mars. We analyze images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express between 2007 and 2020. Using an automated retrieval algorithm we found 407…
The formation of gullies on Mars has often been attributed to the melting of (sub)surface water ice. However, melting-based hypotheses generally overlook key processes: (1) sublimation cooling by latent heat absorption, (2) the…
The precipitation of energetic neutral atoms, produced through charge exchange collisions between solar wind ions and thermal atmospheric gases, is investigated for the Martian atmosphere. Connections between parameters of precipitating…
The winter polar vortices on Mars are annular in terms of their potential vorticity (PV) structure, a phenomenon identified in observations, reanalysis and some numerical simulations. Some recent modeling studies have proposed that…
Near-surface wind fields on Mars are profoundly modulated by complex topography, yet fine-scale wind field characteristics remain poorly resolved for key geomorphological units such as deltas, valleys, and impact craters, due to the spatial…
The detection of biologically important, organic molecules on Mars is an important goal that may soon be reached. However, the current small number of organic detections at the Martian surface may be due to the harsh UV and radiation…
The Martian atmosphere experiences large diurnal variations due to the ~24.6 h planetary rotation and its low heat capacity. Understanding such variations on a planetary scale is limited due to the lack of observations, which are greatly…
The 2009 Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impact mission detected water ice absorption using spectroscopic observations of the impact-generated debris plume taken by the Shepherding Spacecraft, confirming an existing…