Beginning in the late-nineteenth century, several dialogues emerged concerning life on Mars. Some supported the notion of an inhabited Mars, citing recent observations of the planet, while others, pointing to a lack of concrete evidence, denied the validity of such a bold hypothesis. The dialogues within and between different...
The low-level baroclinic eddy activity seen in the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) for simulations under three annual dust cycles are characterized. Simulations were conducted with both radiatively active and radiatively inert clouds (RAC and non-RAC, respectively) for 11 continuous annual cycles for each dust case. Model results...
The Penn-State/NCAR MM5 mesoscale model was adapted for mesoscale simulations of the Martian atmosphere (the OSU MMM5). The NASA Ames Mars GCM provides initial and boundary conditions. High-resolution maps for albedo, thermal inertia and topography were developed from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data; these baseline maps are processed to appropriate...
Mariner 9 and Viking spacecraft observations during the 1970's have provided
evidence for planetary-scale wave-like disturbances in the Mars atmosphere. It has
been suggested that possible sources of the wave activity are dynamical instabilities
(e.g., barotropic and/or baroclinic instabilities). An other candidate source is forced,
quasi-stationary planetary waves. In connection...
We have sufficient evidence that our historical management of natural resources is not sustainable. Food production is stagnating or declining. Nonrenewable energy sources on which the energy sector has historically depended are being rapidly depleted. Water resources, for which the energy and food sectors compete, are being depleted and impaired....
Earth’s mantle extends to nearly 3000 km depth, comprises >80 % of Earth’s total volume, and has the largest influence on the primordial and radiogenic heat budget. Despite its importance, the structure and composition of the mantle is still debated. There are three primary models for Earth’s mantle structure that...
This is an evaluation report for the installation of the Magic Planet exhibit at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. The report is on file with NOAA and is Oregon Sea Grant Publication ORESU-S 10-04.
The Mars Pathfinder (MPF) arrived on the Martian surface on 4 July 1997 to become only the third successful landed mission to Mars, recording surface meteorological data intermittently over a period of 83 Martian days ("sols"). The in situ observations made by the MPF meteorology (MET) experiment were recorded at...
This paper investigates the atmospheric circulation and transport characteristics
of the Martian atmosphere (as modeled by a Mars GCM) for three sets of
conditions. The conditions are based on a combination of season and dust loading
(as parameterized by the optical depth, τ). The first experiment is for the Northern...
A variety of general circulation model experiments are performed to investigate the influence of seasonality and topography on the strength of baroclinic eddies in the Martian atmosphere. Three different models are used: a full physics model, a simplified physics model, and a zonally symmetric simplified physics model. All three models...