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Climatology of the CO vertical distribution on Mars based on ACS TGO measurements
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  • Anna A. Fedorova,
  • Alexander Trokhimovskiy,
  • Franck Lefèvre,
  • Kevin S. Olsen,
  • Oleg I Korablev,
  • Franck Montmessin,
  • Nikolay I. Ignatiev,
  • Alexander A Lomakin,
  • Francois Forget,
  • Denis A. Belyaev,
  • Juan Alday,
  • Mikhail Luginin,
  • Andrey Patrakeev,
  • Alexey V. Shakun,
  • Alexey Grigoriev
Anna A. Fedorova
Space Research Institute

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Alexander Trokhimovskiy
Space Research Institute (IKI)
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Franck Lefèvre
LATMOS
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Kevin S. Olsen
University of Oxford
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Oleg I Korablev
Space Research Institute (IKI)
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Franck Montmessin
LATMOS CNRS/UVSQ/IPSL
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Nikolay I. Ignatiev
Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences
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Alexander A Lomakin
Space Research Institute (IKI)
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Francois Forget
Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique
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Denis A. Belyaev
Space Research Institute (IKI)
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Juan Alday
Open University
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Mikhail Luginin
Space Research Institute
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Andrey Patrakeev
Space Research Institute
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Alexey V. Shakun
Space Research Institute (IKI)
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Alexey Grigoriev
Space Research Institute
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Abstract

Carbon monoxide is a non-condensable species of the Martian atmosphere produced by the photolysis of CO2. Its mixing ratio responds to the condensation and sublimation of CO2; from the polar caps, resulting in seasonal variations of the CO abundance. Since 2018, all three spectrometers of the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) onboard the Trace Gas Orbiter have measured CO in infrared bands by solar occultation. Here we provide the first long-term monitoring of the CO vertical distribution at the altitude range from 0 to 80 km for 1.5 Martian years from Ls=163; of MY34 to the end of MY35. We obtained a mean CO volume mixing ratio of ~960 ppm at latitudes from 45S to 45N, mostly consistent with previous observations. We found a strong enrichment of CO near the surface at Ls=100-200; in high southern latitudes with a layer of 3000-4000 ppmv, corresponding to local depletion of CO2. At equinoxes we found an increase of mixing ratio above 50 km to 3000–4000 ppmv explained by the downwelling flux of the Hadley circulation on Mars, which drags the CO enriched air. The general circulation chemical model tends to overestimate the intensity of this process, bringing too much CO. The observed minimum of CO in the high and mid-latitudes southern summer atmosphere amounts to 700-750 ppmv, agreeing with nadir measurements. During the global dust storm of MY34, when the H2O abundance peaks, we see less CO than during the calm MY35, suggesting an impact of HOx chemistry on the CO abundance.
Sep 2022Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets volume 127 issue 9. 10.1029/2022JE007195