Limb clouds and dust on Mars from images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard Mars Express

Sánchez‐Lavega, A.; Chen-Chen, H.; Ordóñez-Etxeberria, I.; Hueso, R.; Río‐Gaztelurrutia, T. del; Garro, A.; Cardesín‐Moinelo, Alejandro; Titov, Dmitrij; Wood, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.07.026

Cited by 31 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The arrows indicate the directions followed by the expanding dust. Lower: Mean daily insolation (W/m 2 ) at the top of the atmosphere along a Martian year (adapted from Sánchez‐Lavega et al, ). The circles in both panels mark the onset location of the confirmed GDSs given in Table S1.…”

Section: Onset and Initial Expansion Of The Global Dust Stormmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Onset and Growth of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm

Sánchez‐Lavega

Río‐Gaztelurrutia

Hernández-Bernal

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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We analyze the onset and initial expansion of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm (GDS 2018) using ground‐based images in the visual range. This is the first case of a confirmed GDS initiating in the Northern Hemisphere. A dusty area extending about 1.4×105 km2 and centered at latitude +31.7°±1.8° and west longitude 18°±5°W in Acidalia Planitia was captured on 30 and 31 May 2018 (Ls = 184.9°). From 1 to 8 June, daily image series showed the storm expanding southward along the Acidalia corridor with velocities of 5 m/s and simultaneously progressing eastward and westward with horizontal velocities ranging from 5 to 40 m/s. By 8 June the dust reached latitude ‐55° and later penetrated in the South polar region, whereas in the North the dust progression stopped at latitude approximately +46°. We compare the onset and expansion stage of this GDS with the previous confirmed storms.

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Section: Onset and Initial Expansion Of The Global Dust Stormmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Onset and Growth of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm

Sánchez‐Lavega

Río‐Gaztelurrutia

Hernández-Bernal

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…As previously mentioned, in most cases the pericentre observations are more scientifically interesting due to the higher resolution of the measurements, however the high-altitude observations from apocentre are also of interest as Mars Express could provide wide contextual interpretation of the atmospheric conditions to support the interpretation of nadir measurements from TGO, for example in the case of aerosols in the atmosphere (water ice, dust clouds, etc). [Määttänen, 2010;Sánchez-Lavega, 2018] We again obtained the long list of nadir quasi-simultaneous opportunities for the whole mission up to December 2020 and once more these were made available to the science teams of both missions. These inputs were used as a high priority during the science planning process, and joint simultaneous observations are regularly planned, typically 5~10 per month, with variable angular separations.…”

Section: Figure 11 3d Simulation Of Mex and Tgo Orbits And The Crossmentioning

confidence: 99%

First year of coordinated science observations by Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

Cardesín‐Moinelo

Geiger

Lacombe

et al. 2021

Icarus

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Two spacecraft launched and operated by the European Space Agency are currently performing observations in Mars orbit. For more than 15 years Mars Express has been conducting global surveys of the surface, the atmosphere and the plasma environment of the Red Planet. The Trace Gas Orbiter, the first element of the ExoMars programme, began its science phase in 2018 focusing on investigations of the atmospheric composition with unprecedented sensitivity as well as surface and subsurface studies. The coordination of observation programmes of both spacecraft aims at cross calibration of the instruments and exploitation of new opportunities provided by the presence of two spacecraft whose science operations are performed by two closely collaborating teams at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC).In this paper we describe the first combined observations executed by the Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter missions since the start of the TGO operational phase in April 2018 until June 2019. Also included is the science opportunity analysis that has been performed by the Science Operation Centres and instrument teams to identify the observation opportunities until the end of 2020. These results provide a valuable contribution to the scientific community by enabling collaborations within the instrument teams and enhance the scientific outcome of both missions. This information is also valuable to other Mars missions (MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity, …), which may be interested in observing these locations for wider scientific collaboration.In this work we have analysed the simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous opportunities for cross-calibrations and combined observations by both missions, in particular for the vertical atmospheric profiles with solar occultation and the global atmospheric monitoring with nadir observations. As a result of this work we have identified simultaneous solar occultations that can be combined to compare vertical atmospheric profiles of the same region observed by different instruments within less than 2 minute difference, and many other quasi-simultaneous occultation observations within 15 minutes difference at various latitudes and local times. We have also analysed and identified the simultaneous nadir observations that have been planned regularly at different distances and illumination conditions, and studied the seasonal evolution of the orbital crossing points and the alignment of the ground tracks driven by seasonal orbital variations.Lastly we provide an analysis of future opportunities to improve the global coverage of the atmosphere until the end of 2020. This study includes combined opportunities for nadir, solar occultations and a preliminary study of the coverage for limbs and radio occultations between both spacecraft. The resulting observations strongly increase the robustness of both Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter investigations due to cross-calibration of the instruments. They significantly increase spatial and temporal coverage, open new opportunities for scien...

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“…The orbit of MEx during this period allowed limb images of equatorial and northern latitudes with resolutions of ~7 km/pixel (Figure ). At the limb, aerosols reflect sunlight against the dark background, and the maximum height and horizontal structure over the surface can be easily estimated once the geometry of the observation is determined (Sánchez‐Lavega, Chen‐Chen, et al, ). Figure shows two examples of high‐altitude aerosols at the limb, most likely dust from the GDS according to the area occupied by the expanding storm (Sánchez‐Lavega et al, ), reaching up to 60–70 km over the surface.…”

Section: Altitude Reached By Dust During Gds 2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mars Express (MEx) polar orbit allows a nearly nadir view of the poles, and images of both polar regions are regularly obtained using the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC; Ormston et al, ; Sánchez‐Lavega, Chen‐Chen, et al, ). Due to a technical pause in VMC operations, monitoring of the 2018 GDS started on 18 June, approximately 20 sols after its onset (Sánchez‐Lavega et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm Over the South Polar Region Studied With MEx/VMC

Hernández-Bernal

Sánchez‐Lavega

Río‐Gaztelurrutia

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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We study the 2018 Martian global dust storm (GDS 2018) over the Southern Polar Region using images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Mars Express (MEx) during June and July 2018. Dust penetrated into the polar cap region but never covered the cap completely, and its spatial distribution was nonhomogeneous and rapidly changing. However, we detected long but narrow aerosol curved arcs with a length of ~2,000–3,000 km traversing part of the cap and crossing the terminator into the nightside. Tracking discrete dust clouds allowed measurements of their motions that were toward the terminator with velocities up to 100 m/s. The images of the dust projected into the Martian limb show maximum altitudes of ~70 km but with large spatial and temporal variations. We discuss these results in the context of the predictions of a numerical model for dust storm scenario.

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Limb clouds and dust on Mars from images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard Mars Express

Cited by 31 publications

References 38 publications

The Onset and Growth of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm

The Onset and Growth of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm

First year of coordinated science observations by Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm Over the South Polar Region Studied With MEx/VMC

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