Spatio‐temporal level variations of the Martian Seasonal South Polar Cap from co‐registration of MOLA profiles Show others and affiliations
2022 (English) In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, ISSN 2169-9097, E-ISSN 2169-9100, Vol. 127, no 7, article id e2022JE007196Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The seasonal deposition and sublimation of CO2 represents a major element in the Martian volatile cycle. Here, co-registration strategies are applied to Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) profiles to obtain spatio-temporal variations in snow/ice level of the Seasonal South Polar Cap (SSPC), in grid elements of 0.5° in latitude from 60°S to 87°S and 10° in longitude. The maximum snow/ice level in the range of 2 m to 2.5 m is observed over the Residual South Polar Cap. Peak level at the Residual South Polar Cap in Martian Year 25 (MY25) are found to be typically ∼0.5 m higher than those in MY24. The total volume is estimated to peak at approximately 9.4× 1012 m3 . In addition, a map of average bulk density of the SSPC during its recession is derived. It implies much more snowfall-like precipitation at the Residual South Polar Cap and its surroundings than elsewhere on Mars.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages John Wiley & Sons, 2022. Vol. 127, no 7, article id e2022JE007196
Keywords [en]
MOLA, Mars, seasonal polar caps, level variations, CO2 ice, bulk density
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Research subject Atmospheric science
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-92156 DOI: 10.1029/2022je007196 ISI: 000826957300001 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85135039025 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-92156 DiVA, id: diva2:1683067
Note Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-07-29 (hanlid);
Funder: China Scholarship Council (CSC); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (SFB-TRR170); Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers (INSU); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
2022-07-132022-07-132022-11-09 Bibliographically approved