Planetary Climate Dynamics

Abstract:

Geomorphic evidence that Mars was warm enough to support flowing water about 3.8 billion years ago presents a continuing enigma that cannot be explained by conventional greenhouse warming mechanisms. Model calculations show that the surface of early Mars could have been warmed through a scattering variant of the greenhouse effect, resulting from the ability of the carbon dioxide ice clouds to reflect the outgoing thermal radiation back to the surface. This process could also explain how Earth avoided an early irreversible glaciation and could extend the size of the habitable zone on extrasolar planets around stars.

Abstract:

The construction of a new database of statistics on the climate and environment of the Martian atmosphere is currently under way, with the support of the European Space Agency. The primary objectives of this database are to provide information for mission design specialists on the mean state and variability of the Martian environment in unprecedented detail, through the execution of a set of carefully validated simulations of the Martian atmospheric circulation using comprehensive numerical general circulation models. The formulation of the models used are outlined herein, noting especially new improvements in various schemes to parametrize important physical processes, and the scope of the database to be constructed is described. A novel approach towards the representation of large-scale variability in the output of the database using empirical eigenfunctions derived from statistical analyses of the numerical simulations, is also discussed. It is hoped that the resulting database will be of value for both scientific and engineering studies of Mars' atmosphere and near-surface environment. (C) 1997 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Abstract:

Data assimilation is a technique for the analysis of atmospheric observations which combines current information with prior knowledge from previous observations, summarized and forecast in time via the use of a numerical model. A sequential data assimilation scheme has been implemented with a full general circulation model (GCM) of the martian atmosphere for the first time, and has been adapted for the types of atmospheric data which might be expected in the near future, e.g. remote-sensed temperature profiles from a polar orbiter mission such as Mars Surveyor '96 and '98. Tests demonstrate the performance of the scheme using artificial data generated from independent model experiments. (C) 1997 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.