The physics of Martian weather and climate: a review

Read, P. L.; Lewis, S. R. and Mulholland, D. P. (2015). The physics of Martian weather and climate: a review. Reports on Progress in Physics, 78(12), article no. 125901.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/78/12/125901

Abstract

The planet Mars hosts an atmosphere that is perhaps the closest in terms of its meteorology and climate to that of the Earth. But Mars differs from Earth in its greater distance from the Sun, its smaller size, its lack of liquid oceans and its thinner atmosphere, composed mainly of CO₂. These factors give Mars a rather different climate to that of the Earth. In this article we review various aspects of the martian climate system from a physicist's viewpoint, focusing on the processes that control the martian environment and comparing these with corresponding processes on Earth. These include the radiative and thermodynamical processes that determine the surface temperature and vertical structure of the atmosphere, the fluid dynamics of its atmospheric motions, and the key cycles of mineral dust and volatile transport. In many ways, the climate of Mars is as complicated and diverse as that of the Earth, with complex nonlinear feedbacks that affect its response to variations in external forcing. Recent work has shown that the martian climate is anything but static, but is almost certainly in a continual state of transient response to slowly varying insolation associated with cyclic variations in its orbit and rotation. We conclude with a discussion of the physical processes underlying these long- term climate variations on Mars, and an overview of some of the most intriguing outstanding problems that should be a focus for future observational and theoretical studies.

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• Item ORO ID
• 44802
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 1361-6633
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  Open University Consolidated Grant Phase 1 (SP-11-010-GW)	ST/J001597/1	STFC (Science & Technology Facilities Council)
  Case for Support for Modelling and Data Assimilation Science Co-I on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. (SP-10-073-SL)	ST/I003096/1	STFC (Science & Technology Facilities Council)
  Astronomy and Planetary Sciences at the Open University (SP-12-089-MG)	ST/L000776/1	STFC (Science & Technology Facilities Council)
  UPWARDS	Not Set	EU Horizon2020
  (Aurora Studentship) Martian Regional Dust Storms: Implications for Entry, Descent and Landing	ST/M00306X/1	UK Space Agency (UKSA)

• Extra Information
• 54 pp.
• Keywords
• atmospheric physics; Mars; weather; climate
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Physical Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Research Group
• ?? space ??
• Copyright Holders
• © 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd
• Depositing User
• Stephen Lewis