The dynamic atmospheric and aeolian environment of Jezero crater, Mars

Journal Article · Fri May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn3783· OSTI ID:2470477

Newman, Claire E. ^[1]; Hueso, Ricardo ^[2]; Lemmon, Mark T. ^[3]; Munguira, Asier ^[2]; Vicente-Retortillo, Álvaro ^[4]; Apestigue, Víctor ^[5]; Martínez, Germán M. ^[6]; Toledo, Daniel ^[5]; Sullivan, Rob ^[7]; Herkenhoff, Ken E. ^[8]; de la Torre Juárez, Manuel ^[9]; Richardson, Mark I. ^[10]; Stott, Alexander E. ^[11]; Murdoch, Naomi ^[11]; Sanchez-Lavega, Agustín ^[2]; Wolff, Michael J. ^[3]; Arruego, Ignacio ^[5]; Sebastián, Eduardo ^[4]; Navarro, Sara ^[4]; Gómez-Elvira, Javier ^[12] ; Tamppari, Leslie ^[9]; Smith, Michael D. ^[13]; Lepinette, Alain ^[4]; Viúdez-Moreiras, Daniel ^[4]; Harri, Ari-Matti ^[14]; Genzer, Maria ^[14]; Hieta, Maria ^[14]; Lorenz, Ralph D. ^[15]; Conrad, Pan ^[16]; Gómez, Felipe ^[4]; McConnochie, Timothy H. ^[17]; Mimoun, David ^[11]; Tate, Christian ^[7]; Bertrand, Tanguy ^[18]; Bell, James F. ^[19]; Maki, Justin N. ^[9]; Rodriguez-Manfredi, Jose Antonio ^[4]; Wiens, Roger C. ^[20]; Chide, Baptiste ^[21]; Maurice, Sylvestre ^[21]; Zorzano, Maria-Paz ^[4]; Mora, Luis ^[4]; Baker, Mariah M. ^[22]; Banfield, Don ^[23]; Pla-Garcia, Jorge ^[24]; Beyssac, Olivier ^[25]; Brown, Adrian ^[26]; Clark, Ben ^[3]; Montmessin, Franck ^[27]; Fischer, Erik ^[28]; Patel, Priyaben ^[29]; del Río-Gaztelurrutia, Teresa ^[2]; Fouchet, Thierry ^[18]; Francis, Raymond ^[9]; Guzewich, Scott D. ^[13]

---

1. Aeolis Research, Chandler, AZ (United States); et al.
2. Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain.
3. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA.
4. Centro de Astrobiologia, INTA, Madrid, Spain.
5. INTA, Madrid, Spain.
6. Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA, Houston, TX, USA.; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
7. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
8. USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
9. Jet Propulsion Laboratory–California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
10. Aeolis Research, Chandler, AZ, USA.
11. ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
12. Centro de Astrobiologia, INTA, Madrid, Spain.; INTA, Madrid, Spain.
13. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
14. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
15. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, USA.
16. Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA.
17. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA.; University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
18. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France.
19. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
20. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.; Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
21. IRAP-CNRS, Toulouse, France.
22. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, USA.
23. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.; NASA Ames, Mountain View, CA, USA.
24. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA.; Centro de Astrobiologia, INTA, Madrid, Spain.
25. IMPMC, CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
26. Plancius Research, Severna Park, MD, USA.
27. LATMOS, Guyancourt, France.
28. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
29. Jet Propulsion Laboratory–California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.; UCL, London, UK.

Despite the importance of sand and dust to Mars geomorphology, weather, and exploration, the processes that move sand and that raise dust to maintain Mars’ ubiquitous dust haze and to produce dust storms have not been well quantified in situ, with missions lacking either the necessary sensors or a sufficiently active aeolian environment. Perseverance rover’s novel environmental sensors and Jezero crater’s dusty environment remedy this. In Perseverance’s first 216 sols, four convective vortices raised dust locally, while, on average, four passed the rover daily, over 25% of which were significantly dusty (“dust devils”). More rarely, dust lifting by nonvortex wind gusts was produced by daytime convection cells advected over the crater by strong regional daytime upslope winds, which also control aeolian surface features. One such event covered 10 times more area than the largest dust devil, suggesting that dust devils and wind gusts could raise equal amounts of dust under nonstorm conditions.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 2470477
• Journal Information: Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 21 Vol. 8; ISSN 2375-2548
• Publisher: AAAS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Science & Technology - Other Topics