Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2010, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 304-309
Characteristics of Martian atmosphere aerosol for various local times,
latitudes, and seasons from the data of OMEGA spectrometer
of Mars-Express European mission
B.S. Mayorov
1, A.V. Vasilyev
2, J.-P. Bibring
31 Space research institute of RAS, 117997 Moscow, 84/32 Profsoyuznaya str
2 The Physical Faculty of St. Petersburg State University, 198504, St. Petersburg, Petrodvorets, 1 Ulyanovskaja str
3 LInstitut dAstrophysique Spatiale, France, 91405 Orsay cedex, 120-121
The OMEGA spectrometer limb intensity profiles of European Mars-Express mission were analyzed by the algorithm
of optical and microphysical Martian aerosol properties retrieval in some spectral bands designed by authors.
It was supposed that the only one aerosol fraction with a determined complex refraction index dominates in the atmosphere.
Aerosol is described as a polydisperse system of homogeneous spherical particles with the single-mode
modified gamma particle size distribution function. The modeling of radiation transfer is based on the code designed
by the authors. The computations are based on statistical modeling (Monte-Carlo method) to take into account a
multiple scattering of radiation in the spherically symmetric atmosphere. Altitude profiles of aerosol concentration
and modal radius of particle size distribution function were retrieved for several decades of limb observation sessions
of OMEGA device for various Martian latitudes of observed regions, local times and seasons.
Keywords: aerosol, Mars, OMEGA, spectrometer, measurements, simulation, atmosphere, limb
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