Large Dust Aerosol Sizes Seen During the 2018 Martian Global Dust Event by the Curiosity Rover

M. T. Lemmon, S. D. Guzewich, T. McConnochie, A. de Vicente-Retortillo, G. Martínez, Michael D. Smith, J. F. Bell, D. Wellington, S. Jacob

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mars' atmosphere typically supports dust aerosol with an effective radius near 1.5 μm, varying from ~1 μm during low dust times near northern summer solstice to ~2 μm during higher dust times in southern spring and summer. After global dust events, size variations outside this range have not previously been observed. We report on imaging and spectral observations by the Curiosity rover through the 2018 global dust event. These observations show that the dust effective radius was seasonally normal prior to the local onset of increased opacity, increased rapidly above 4 μm with increasing opacity, remained above 3 μm over a period of ~50 Martian solar days, then returned to seasonal values before the opacity did so. This demonstrates lifting and regional-scale transport of a dust population ~3 times the size of typical dust aerosol.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)9448-9456
Number of pages9
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume46
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 28 2019

Keywords

  • Mars
  • aerosol
  • atmosphere
  • dust

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

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