Abstract
We explore a sequence of 13 unique high-cadence images of a dust storm, from the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM). The Emirates eXploration Imager camera took these images in less than 8 hr on 18 December 2022 (Martian Year 36, solar longitude 356°). Most of these images are separated by a time difference of half an hour. The region of interest extends from Lyot crater to the east. During the morning, the EMM images show lee waves (atmospheric gravity waves). In the late morning, the lee waves rapidly change into clearly distinct dust storm texture/convective features. We track the evolution of both lee waves and a local dust storm between sunrise and mid-afternoon. Also, we relate our observations to atmospheric dynamics. Our analysis is supported by the Mars Climate Database and radio occultation measurement data.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e2023GL105317 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 24 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Dec 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding for the development of the EMM mission was provided by the United Arab Emirates Government, and to co‐authors outside of the United Arab Emirates by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre. This work was also supported by a Joint Research Agreement between the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre and the National Space Science and Technology Center in the United Arab Emirates University. CG, BKG, and RMBY were supported by the United Arab Emirates University through research Grant G00003407.
Data Availability Statement
The basis of this study are EMM images and data on 18 December 2022, available from the EMM Science Data Center (SDC, https://sdc.emiratesmarsmission.ae/). Data product filenames follow a standard convention: emm_<Instrument>_<DataLevel><StartTimeUTC>_<OrbitNumber>_<Mode>_<Description>_<KernelLevel>_<Version>.<FileType>.The images and data come in the data format fits (Flexible Image Transport System). We used the python packages “astropy.io.fits” and “imageio” for image/data reading and image visualization. For the map-projection of level2A images from EMM/EXI, we used the Matlab mapping package M_Map (https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html) (Pawlowicz, 2020).
Figure 1 used the Mars Climate Database (MCD), version 6.1, available from http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/. Figure 1a used data from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) high-resolution topography (32 pixels per degree, also available from the MCD, see the file “mola32.nc”).
Keywords
- Dust storm
- Dynamics
- Emirates Mars Mission
- High-cadence images
- Lee wave
- Planetary boundary layer
Access to Document
- Gebhardt_etal_GRL_Subhourly_Observations_of_VOR
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