Probing Martian turbulence kinetic energy and dissipation rate during major dust storms

Turbulence in lower layers of terrestrial atmospheres, i.e., the planetary boundary layers (PBL), is the key governor of near–surface exchange of momentum, aerosols and tracers [1]. As the in–situ exploration of Mars by lander and rover missions advances progressively, the dynamics of atmospheric turbulence has drawn growing attention to better understand the Martian near–surface processes. 

Recent in–situ observations [2, 3] introduced new features of near–surface Martian turbulence, such as, the day and nighttime vortex activity, local and non–local turbulence. Very recently, we presented the feedback between convective turbulence activity and major dust storms derived from general circulation model (GCM) simulations with an in-house semi–interactive dust transport model [4], guided by column dust climatology observations [5]. In the present study, we further examine the near–surface turbulence activity addressing the turbulence kinetic energy, k, and dissipation rate, ε, of lower atmosphere. These quantities, as the two key physical quantity in classical turbulence theory, provide valuable insights into Martian turbulence characteristics, indicating the integral energy content of atmospheric turbulence and irreversible energy conversion into heat, respectively. Here, we mainly focus on two questions: how does the near-surface k–ε (i) change seasonally and (ii) relate to the major dust storm activity in Martian Years 34 and 35. To this end, we perform high–resolution MarsWRF [6, 7] mesoscale simulations in Elysium Planitia using our recent Mars–specific PBL scheme [8], assessed with the global variation of Martian PBL [4]. As a future study, we will support our findings with the high temporal–resolution surface meteorological observations.

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[3] Chatain, A., Spiga, A., Banfield, D., Forget, F., & Murdoch, N. (2021). Seasonal Variability of the Daytime and Nighttime Atmospheric Turbulence Experienced by InSight on Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(22), e2021GL095453.
[4] Senel, C. B., Temel, O., Lee, C., Newman, C. E., ... & Karatekin, Ö. (2021). Interannual, Seasonal and Regional Variations in the Martian Convective Boundary Layer Derived From GCM Simulations With a Semi–Interactive Dust Transport Model. JGR: Planets, 126(10), e2021JE006965.
[5] Montabone, L., Spiga, A., ... & Millour, E. (2020). Martian year 34 column dust climatology from Mars climate sounder observations: Reconstructed maps and model simulations. JGR: Planets, 125(8), e2019JE006111.
[6] Richardson, M. I., Toigo, A. D., & Newman, C. E. (2007). PlanetWRF: A general purpose, local to global numerical model for planetary atmospheric and climate dynamics. JGR: Planets, 112(E9).
[7] Newman, C. E., Kahanpää, H., Richardson, M. I., ... & Lemmon, M. T. (2019). MarsWRF convective vortex and dust devil predictions for Gale Crater over 3 Mars years and comparison with MSL–REMS observations. JGR: Planets, 124(12), 3442–3468.
[8] Temel, O., Senel, C. B., Porchetta, S., Muñoz–Esparza, D., ... & Karatekin, Ö. (2021). Large eddy simulations of the Martian convective boundary layer: towards developing a new planetary boundary layer scheme. Atmospheric Research, 250, 105381.