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Systematic catalog of Martian convective vortices observed by InSight
  • +16
  • Keisuke Onodera,
  • Kiwamu Nishida,
  • Taichi Kawamura,
  • Naomi Murdoch,
  • Mélanie Drilleau,
  • Ryoji Otsuka,
  • Ralph D. Lorenz,
  • Anna Catherine Horleston,
  • Rudolf Widmer-Schnidrig,
  • Martin Schimmel,
  • Sebastien Rodriguez,
  • Sebastián Carrasco,
  • Satoshi Tanaka,
  • Clement Perrin,
  • Philippe Lognonné,
  • Aymeric Spiga,
  • Donald Banfield,
  • Mark Paul Panning,
  • William Bruce Banerdt
Keisuke Onodera
The University of Tokyo

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Kiwamu Nishida
Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo
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Taichi Kawamura
Université Paris Cité, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS
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Naomi Murdoch
ISAE SUPAERO
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Mélanie Drilleau
ISAE-SUPAERO
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Ryoji Otsuka
The University of Tokyo
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Ralph D. Lorenz
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
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Anna Catherine Horleston
University of Bristol
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Rudolf Widmer-Schnidrig
Black Forest Observatory, Institute of Geodesy, Stuttgart University, Heubach 206, D-77709 Wolfach, Germany
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Martin Schimmel
Geosciences Barcelona
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Sebastien Rodriguez
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Université Paris-Diderot
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Sebastián Carrasco
Bensberg Observatory, University of Cologne
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Satoshi Tanaka
JAXA ISAS
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Clement Perrin
Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences
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Philippe Lognonné
Université Paris Cité, Institute de physique de globe de Paris, CNRS
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Aymeric Spiga
Sorbonne Université (Faculté des Sciences)
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Donald Banfield
Cornell
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Mark Paul Panning
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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William Bruce Banerdt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Abstract

Convective vortices (whirlwinds) and dust devils (dust-loaded vortices) are one of the most common phenomena on Mars, observable on a daily basis. They reflect the local thermodynamical structure of the atmosphere and are the driving force of the dust cycle. Additionally, they cause an elastic ground deformation, which is useful for retrieving the subsurface rigidity. Therefore, investigating Martian convective vortices with the right instrumentation can lead to a better understanding of the Martian atmospheric structures as well as the subsurface physical properties. In this study, we quantitatively characterized the convective vortices detected by NASA’s InSight mission (~13,000 events) using both meteorological (e.g., pressure, wind speed, temperature) and seismic data. The evaluated parameters, such as the signal-to-noise ratio, event duration, asymmetricity of pressure drop profiles, and cross-correlation coefficient between seismic and pressure signals, are compiled as a catalog. To demonstrate how our catalog can contribute to scientific investigations, we show two analysis results about (i) asymmetrical features seen in the vortex-related pressure drops and (ii) atmospheric-ground interaction to retrieve the subsurface physical properties.
20 May 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
25 May 2023Published in ESS Open Archive