P039-05
The Surface Energy Budget during the first 4 Martian Years of the Mars Science Laboratory mission

Thursday, 10 December 2020: 19:20
Virtual
German Martinez1, Álvaro Vicente-Retortillo2, Ashwin R Vasavada3, Claire E Newman4, Erik Fischer5, Nilton O. Renno5, Hannu I Savijarvi6, Manuel de la Torre Juarez7, Mark T Lemmon8, Scott David Guzewich9 and Eduardo Sebastian10, (1)Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, United States, (2)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States, (3)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)Aeolis Research, Tucson, AZ, United States, (5)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (6)University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, (7)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (8)Space Science Institute Boulder, Boulder, TX, United States, (9)NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (10)Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
The energy at the surface of Mars available for conduction into the soil can be calculated as a balance between the downwelling and upwelling (reflected by the surface) shortwave (SW) solar radiative flux, the downwelling longwave (LW) radiative flux from the atmosphere, the surface upwelling LW radiation flux, and the sensible and latent heat flux. These fluxes make up the so-called Surface Energy Budget (SEB). Here, we use measurements by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover to calculate hourly values of each of these fluxes during the first 2500 sols of the mission (~3.7 Martian years).

Due to the lack of in situ measurements, previous estimations of the SEB at other Martian landing sites relied significantly on numerical models [1]. Here, we use in situ measurements of the highest confidence possible of ground and air temperature, UV radiation, pressure, and aerosol opacity, in combination with modeled values of wind speeds [2] and geophysical properties of the terrain [3], to obtain the SEB across the Curiosity’s traverse. Then, we analyze the variation of each term of the SEB from diurnal to interannual timescales.

An accurate determination of the SEB is important to validate and improve the predictive capabilities of models of the near surface environment on Mars [4]. In addition, determination of the downwelling LW radiative flux provides an excellent opportunity to validate dust radiative parameters under extremely dust conditions [4], and to indirectly detect the presence of water ice clouds at nighttime [3]. Also, determination of the downwelling SW radiative and sensible heat fluxes is important to understand the energy available for solar-powered missions, and the periodical removal of dust from solar panels caused by convective fluxes [5]. Finally, results of this study will enable comparisons with measurements of the SEB by the Perseverance rover at Jezero crater [6].

[1] Martínez, G. M., et al. (2014), JGR 119(8), 1822-1838. [2] Newman, C. E., et al. (2019), JGR 124(12), 3442-3468. [3] Vasavada, A. R., et al. (2017), Icarus, 284, 372-386. [4] Savijärvi, H., et al. (2020), Icarus, 337, 113515. [5] Vicente-Retortillo, Á., et al. (2018), Scientific Reports, 8(1), 1-8. [6] Sebastián, E., et al. (2020), Measurement, 164, 107968.

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