A modelling study of the seasonal, latitudinal, and temporal distribution of the meteoroid mass input at Mars: Constraining the deposition of meteoric ablated metals in the upper atmosphere
- 1Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20064, USA (juandiego.carrillosanchez@nasa.gov)
- 2ITM Physics Laboratory, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 675, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- 3School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- 4Astrophysics Science Division, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 667, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- 5Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC, 8800 Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- 6Geospace Physics Laboratory, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 673, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- 7California State University, San Bernardino, Department of Physics, 5500 University Pkwy, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA
- 8National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9PH, UK
- 9National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1850 Table Mesa Dr, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
- 10School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 3AR, UK
This study provides a comprehensive description of the deposition of meteor-ablated metals in the upper atmosphere of Mars, accounting for the temporal, vertical, latitudinal, and seasonal distribution. For this purpose, the Leeds Chemical Ablation MODel (CABMOD) is combined with a Meteoroid Input Function (MIF) to characterize the size and velocity distributions of three distinctive meteoroid populations around Mars – the Jupiter-Family Comets (JFCs), main-belt asteroid (ASTs), and Halley-Type Comets (HTCs). These modelling results show a significant midnight-to-noon enhancement of the total mass influx because of the orbital dynamics of Mars, with meteoroid impacts preferentially distributed around the equator for particle with diameters below 2000 µm. The maximum total mass input occurs between the northern winter and the first crossing of the ecliptic plane with 2.30 tons sol-1, with the JFCs being the main contributor to the overall influx with up to 56% around the Mars equator. Similarly, total ablated atoms mainly arise from the HTCs with a maximum injection rate of 0.71 tons sol-1 spanning from the perihelion to the northern winter. In contrast, the minimum mass and ablated inputs occur between the maximum vertical distance above the ecliptic plane and the aphelion with 1.50 and 0.42 tons sol-1, respectively. Meteoric ablation occurs approximately in the range altitude between 100 and 60 km with a strong midnight-to-noon enhancement at equatorial latitudes. The eccentricity and the inclination of Mars’ orbit produces a significant shift of the ablation peak altitude at high latitudes as Mars moves towards, or away, from the northern/southern solstices.
How to cite: Carrillo Sanchez, J. D., Janches, D., Plane, J. M. C., Pokorny, P., Sarantos, M., Crismani, M. M. J., Feng, W., and Marsh, D. R.: A modelling study of the seasonal, latitudinal, and temporal distribution of the meteoroid mass input at Mars: Constraining the deposition of meteoric ablated metals in the upper atmosphere, Europlanet Science Congress 2022, Granada, Spain, 18–23 Sep 2022, EPSC2022-21, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-21, 2022.
