Hexagonal Prisms Form in Water-Ice Clouds on Mars, Producing Halo Displays Seen by Perseverance Rover.


Journal

Geophysical research letters
ISSN: 0094-8276
Titre abrégé: Geophys Res Lett
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9882887

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
16 Sep 2022
Historique:
received: 31 05 2022
revised: 18 08 2022
accepted: 22 08 2022
entrez: 17 10 2022
pubmed: 18 10 2022
medline: 18 10 2022
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Observations by several cameras on the Perseverance rover showed a 22° scattering halo around the Sun over several hours during northern midsummer (solar longitude 142°). Such a halo has not previously been seen beyond Earth. The halo occurred during the aphelion cloud belt season and the cloudiest time yet observed from the Perseverance site. The halo required crystalline water-ice cloud particles in the form of hexagonal columns large enough for refraction to be significant, at least 11 μm in diameter and length. From a possible 40-50 km altitude, and over the 3.3 hr duration of the halo, particles could have fallen 3-12 km, causing downward transport of water and dust. Halo-forming clouds are likely rare due to the high supersaturation of water that is required but may be more common in northern subtropical regions during northern midsummer.

Identifiants

pubmed: 36245894
doi: 10.1029/2022GL099776
pii: GRL64728
pmc: PMC9539710
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

e2022GL099776

Informations de copyright

© 2022. The Authors.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.

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Auteurs

M T Lemmon (MT)

Space Science Institute Boulder CO USA.

D Toledo (D)

Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial Madrid Spain.

V Apestigue (V)

Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial Madrid Spain.

I Arruego (I)

Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial Madrid Spain.

M J Wolff (MJ)

Space Science Institute Boulder CO USA.

P Patel (P)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA.
Mullard Space Science Laboratory University College London London UK.

S Guzewich (S)

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA.

A Colaprete (A)

NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field CA USA.

Á Vicente-Retortillo (Á)

Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) Madrid Spain.

L Tamppari (L)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA.

M de la Torre Juarez (M)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA.

J Maki (J)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA.

T McConnochie (T)

Space Science Institute Boulder CO USA.

A Brown (A)

Plancius Research Severna Park MD USA.

J F Bell (JF)

Arizona State University Tempe AZ USA.

Classifications MeSH