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J. L. Benson (University of Toledo), D. A. Glenar (NASA GSFC), P. B. James (University of Toledo), M. J. Wolff (Space Science Institute), M. D. Smith (NASA GSFC)
We use MOC wide-angle blue (425 nm) (WAB) Daily Global Maps supported by a 3-component (surface, cloud layer, dust layer) radiative transfer model to retrieve and map water ice cloud properties at the MOC WA spatial resolution of 7.5 km. TES dust measurements are incorporated into the model after adjusting for wavelength using recent aerosol models (Wolff and Clancy 2003) and correcting for topography using MOLA data (Smith et al. 1999). Surface reflectance is inferred from MOC images of the same locations acquired during cloud free periods with minimum dust loading.
We chose six aphelion-season MOC image strips, two each for Olympus, Ascraeus, and Elysium Mons, that exhibit well-defined clouds and include TES cloud optical depth measurements within the MOC field of view. The resulting maps of 425 nm cloud optical depth reveal large optical depth gradients at spatial scales of 10-20 km. Maximum cloud optical depth lies between 0.7 and 0.8 for Ascraeus and Elysium Mons and exceeds 1.0 at Olympus Mons. We use TES infrared extinction optical depth measurements to estimate ice aerosol particle size at locations along the TES ground track which are common to both MOC and TES measurements.
This work is supported by the NASA Mars Data Analysis Program.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.