SPICAM on Mars Express: A 10 year in-depth survey of the Martian atmosphere

Franck Montmessin 1 Oleg Korablev 2, 3 Franck Lefèvre 1 Jean-Loup Bertaux 1 Anna A. Fedorova 2 Alexander Trokhimovskiy 3, 2 Jean-Yves Chaufray 1 Gaetan Lacombe 1 Aurélie Reberac 1 Luca Maltagliati 4 Yannick Willame 5 Svetlana Guslyakova 2 Jean-Claude Gérard 6 Arnaud Stiepen 6 Didier Fussen 5 Nina Mateshvili 5 Anni Määttänen 1 François Forget 7 Olivier Witasse 8 François Leblanc 9 Ann Carine Vandaele 5 Emmanuel Marcq 1 Bill R. Sandel 10 Brigitte Gondet 11 Nicholas M. Schneider 12 Michael S. Chaffin 12 Nicolas Chapron 13
1 IMPEC - LATMOS
LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
2 IKI - Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
3 MIPT - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology [Moscow]
4 AIM - UMR 7158 - UMR E 9005 - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
5 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique
6 LPAP - Laboratoire de Physique Atmosphérique et Planétaire
7 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
8 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
9 HEPPI - LATMOS
LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
10 LPL - Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson]
11 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
12 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]
13 LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
Abstract : The SPICAM experiment onboard Mars Express has accumulated during the last decade a wealth of observations that has permitted a detailed characterization of the atmospheric composition and activity from the near-surface up to above the exosphere. The SPICAM climatology is one of the longest assembled to date by an instrument in orbit around Mars, offering the opportunity to study the fate of major volatile species in the Martian atmosphere over a multi-(Mars)year timeframe. With his dual ultraviolet (UV)-near Infrared channels, SPICAM observes spectral ranges encompassing signatures created by a variety atmospheric gases, from major (CO2) to trace species (H2O, O3). Here, we present a synthesis of the observations collected for water vapor, ozone, clouds and dust, carbon dioxide, exospheric hydrogen and airglows. The assembled climatology covers the MY 27 to MY 31 period. However, the monitoring of UV-derived species was interrupted at the end of 2014 (MY30) due to failure of the UV channel. A SO2 detection attempt was undertaken, but proved unsuccessful from regional to global scales (with upper limit greater than already published ones). One particular conclusion that stands out from this overview work concerns the way the Martian atmosphere organizes an efficient mass transfer between the lower and the upper atmospheric reservoirs. This highway to space, as we name it, is best illustrated by water and hydrogen, both species having been monitored by SPICAM in their respective atmospheric reservoir. Coupling between the two appear to occur on seasonal timescales, much shorter than theoretical predictions.
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Journal articles
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https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01545690
Contributor : Catherine Cardon <>
Submitted on : Friday, June 23, 2017 - 7:37:30 AM
Last modification on : Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 4:48:10 PM

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INSU | X | LMD | ENS-PARIS | DSM-IRFU | IRFU-AIM | CEA | X-LMD | PSL | UPMC | LATMOS | UVSQ | ENPC-LMD | UNIV-PARIS-SACLAY | PARISTECH | ENPC | CEA-DRF | X-DEP-MECA | SORBONNE-UNIVERSITE | UNIV-PARIS7 | USPC | SU-SCIENCES

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Franck Montmessin, Oleg Korablev, Franck Lefèvre, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Anna A. Fedorova, et al.. SPICAM on Mars Express: A 10 year in-depth survey of the Martian atmosphere. Icarus, Elsevier, 2017, 297, pp.195-216. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2017.06.022⟩. ⟨insu-01545690⟩

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