Extreme detached dust layers near Martian volcanoes: Evidence for dust transport by mesoscale circulations forced by high topography

Abstract

Modeling suggests that thermal circulations over Mars's highest volcanoes transport water vapor and dust from the surface into the middle atmosphere, forming detached layers in these constituents. Intense vertical mixing also takes place in regional and global dust storms, which can generate detached layers that are extreme in both altitude and magnitude. Here we employ observations by the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, taking advantage of improved vertical coverage in MCS's aerosol retrievals, to discover a new class of extreme detached dust layers (EDDLs). Observed during minimal dust storm activity and furthermore distinguished by their potentially large and measurable horizontal extent (>1000 km), these EDDLs cluster near Olympus Mons and the Tharsis Montes, from which they likely originate. The existence of these EDDLs suggests that vertical mixing by topographic circulations can be much stronger than previously modeled and more frequent than previously observed.