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Multi-Annual Monitoring of the Water Vapor Vertical Distribution on Mars by SPICAM on Mars Express
Montmessin, Franck; Trokhimovskiy, Alexander; Bertaux, Jean-Loup +3 more
The distribution of water vapor with altitude has long remained a missing piece of the observational data set of water vapor on Mars. In this study, we present the first multi-annual survey of water vapor profile covering the altitude range from 0 to 100 km based on the SPICAM/Mars Express occultation measurements. During the aphelion season, wate…
Relationship Between the Ozone and Water Vapor Columns on Mars as Observed by SPICAM and Calculated by a Global Climate Model
Forget, F.; Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A. +10 more
Ozone (O3) in the atmosphere of Mars is produced following the photolysis of CO2 and is readily destroyed by the hydrogen radicals (HOx) released by the photolysis and oxidation of water vapor. As a result, an anti correlation between ozone and water vapor is expected. We describe here the O3 H2
Small Volcanic Vents of the Tharsis Volcanic Province, Mars
Richardson, J. A.; Bleacher, J. E.; Connor, C. B. +1 more
Distributed style volcanism is an end member of terrestrial volcanism that produces clusters of small volcanoes when isolated magma bodies ascend from broad magma source regions. Volcano clusters can develop over millions of years, one volcano at a time, and can be used to infer unobserved geologic phenomena, including subsurface stresses and crac…
Martian Hydrated Minerals: A Significant Water Sink
Jakosky, Bruce M.; Wernicke, Liza J.
Quantifying the water in all Martian water reservoirs is important for understanding the history of water on Mars, including Mars' past climate and potential for habitability. Hydrated minerals are widespread on Mars and may comprise a significant portion of the water inventory. We calculated the possible volumes of water stored within and require…
The Aeolian Environment of the Landing Site for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover in Oxia Planum, Mars
Fawdon, P.; Balme, M. R.; Grindrod, P. M. +4 more
Aeolian features at Oxia Planum—the 2023 landing site for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover (ERFR)—are important for Mars exploration because they record information about past and current wind regimes, sand transport vectors, and lend insight to the abrasion, deposition, and transport of granular material. To characterize the wind regime and er…
Stratigraphic Relationships in Jezero Crater, Mars: Constraints on the Timing of Fluvial-Lacustrine Activity From Orbital Observations
Hauber, E.; Gupta, S.; Quantin-Nataf, C. +15 more
On February 18, 2021 NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, located at the northwestern edge of the Isidis basin on Mars. The uppermost surface of the present-day crater floor is dominated by a distinct geologic assemblage previously referred to as the dark-toned floor. It consists of a smooth, dark-toned unit overlying and variably co…
Where are Mars' Hypothesized Ocean Shorelines? Large Lateral and Topographic Offsets Between Different Versions of Paleoshoreline Maps
Catling, David C.; Dickeson, Zachary I.; Sholes, Steven F. +1 more
Mars' controversial hypothesized ocean shorelines have been found to deviate significantly from an expected equipotential surface. While multiple deformation models have been proposed to explain the wide range of elevations, here we show that the historical locations used in the literature and in these models vary widely. We find that the most com…
Seasonal and Geographical Variability of the Martian Ionosphere From Mars Express Observations
González-Galindo, F.; Němec, F.; Tellmann, S. +4 more
We study the seasonal and geographical variability of the peak electron density and the altitude of the main ionospheric peak at Mars. For this purpose, we use the data obtained by the ESA Mars Express mission, namely by the radar MARSIS and the radio occultation experiment MaRS. The accumulation of data during the long lifetime of Mars Express pr…
The Composition of the South Polar Cap of Mars Derived From Orbital Data
Wieczorek, M. A.; Broquet, A.; Fa, W.
The flexure of the lithosphere under stresses imposed by the geologically young south polar cap is one of the few clues we have regarding the south polar cap composition and the present-day thermal state of Mars. Here, we combine radar, gravity, and topography data with a flexural loading model to estimate the bulk density (ρ) and average real die…
Morphology, Morphometry and Distribution of Isolated Landforms in Southern Chryse Planitia, Mars
Fawdon, Peter; Balme, Matthew R.; McNeil, Joseph D. +1 more
The margin of Chryse Planitia, Mars, contains >105 kilometer scale mesas, buttes, and plateaus ("mounds"), many of which are found in and around Oxia Planum, the ExoMars 2022 Rover landing site. Despite this, their origins and evolution are unknown. We have analyzed the morphologies and morphometries of 14,386 individual mounds to: (…