HR: 08:15h
AN: P21E-02    [Abstracts]
TI: Water Ice Clouds as Seen from the Mars Exploration Rovers
AU: * Wolff, M J
EM: wolff@spacescience.org
AF: Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Clancy, R T
EM: clancy@spacescience.org
AF: Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Banfield, D
EM: banfield@astro.cornell.edu
AF: Dept. of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 15853 United States
AU: Cuozzo, K
P21E-02 AF: Dept. of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 15853 United States
AB: Water ice clouds that bear a striking resemblance to terrestrial cirrus (e.g., "Mare's tails") have been observed by the Panoramic Camera (Pancam), the Navigation Camera (Navcam), the Hazard Camera (Hazcam), and the Minature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) on board the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Such phenomena represent an opportunity to characterize local and regional scale meteorology as well as our understanding of the processes involved. However, a necessary first-step is to adequately describe some basic properties of the detected clouds: 1) when are the clouds present (i.e., local time, season, etc.)? 2) where are the clouds present? That is to say, what is the relative frequency between the two rover sites as well as the connection to detections from orbiting spacecraft. 3) what are the observed morphologies? 4) what are the projected velocities (i.e., wind speeds and directions) associated with the clouds? 5) what is the abundance of water ice nuclei (i.e., optical depth)? Our talk will summarize our progress in answering the above questions, as well as provide initial results in connecting the observations to more global behavior in the Martian climate.
DE: 3311 Clouds and aerosols
DE: 5704 Atmospheres (0343, 1060)
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005