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UNDERSTANDING THE MARTIAN DUST CYCLE ACROSS ALL TIMESCALES IS IMPORTANT FOR ENSURING THE SAFETY OF SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS. HOWEVER REGIONAL DUST EVENTS OCCUR UNPREDICTABLY. FORTUNATELY THE TRAVELING ATMOSPHERIC WAVES RESPONSIBLE FOR TRIGGERING LARGE DUST EVENTS SOMETIMES REPEAT AT REGULAR INTERVALS. THIS BEHAVIOR HINTS AT UNDERLYING LARGE-SCALE DYNAMICS SPECIFICALLY THAT OF ANNULAR MODES. ON EARTH TWO ANNULAR MODES HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED: BAROTROPIC AND BAROCLINIC MODES. THE BAROTROPIC MODES ARE RELATED TO THE ZONAL-MEAN ZONAL WIND AND THE BAROCLINIC MODES ARE CONNECTED TO THE ZONAL-MEAN EDDY KINETIC ENERGY OF TRAVELING WAVES THAT ON MARS GENERATE FRONTAL PRECURSOR DUST EVENTS. ON EARTH THE BAROCLINIC MODE EXPRESSES A SPECIFIC FREQUENCY AROUND 25 DAYS WHICH IS SIMILAR TO THE REGULARITY SHOWN BY MARTIAN ATMOSPHERIC WAVES (20 SOLS). WITH ATION OF MARTIAN ANNULAR MODES AND THEIR CONTROL ON THE PERIODICITY OF THE TRAVELING WAVES THAT INDUCE REGIONAL DUST STORMS THESE DYNAMICS MAY PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR THE PREDICTION OF DUST ACTIVITY IN THE ABSENCE OF FORECASTING CAPABILITIES WHICH COULD PROVE INVALUABLE TO THE SAFETY OF SURFACE OPERATIONS. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO INVESTIGATE THE OCCURRENCE OF ANNULAR MODES IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF MARS AND TO ESTABLISH THE INFLUENCE OF THEIR DYNAMICS UPON THE TIMING GROWTH AND FREQUENCY OF TRANSIENT ATMOSPHERIC WAVES THAT TRIGGER LARGE DUST EVENTS.

$259,573FY2021National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Yale Univ

Investigators

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