The Effects of Radiatively Active Water Ice Clouds on the Martian Global Seasonal Water Cycle
Résumé
Recently, Mars General Circulation Models (MGCM) have begun implementing cloud microphysics packages to better account for their role in the water cycle. Here, we discuss the importance of their radiative effects. For the past several years we have been implementing and testing a state-of-the-art cloud microphysics package into the NASA/Ames MGCM. This package accounts for the nucleation, growth, transport, and settling of a size distribution water ice cloud particles in a self-consistent fashion. The model also has flags to activate their solar and infrared radiative effects, which depend on the size and dust content of the ice particles. We have performed two simulations of the global water cycle on Mars: one in which the clouds are radiatively inert, and one in which they are radiatively active. We find that the thermal structure of the atmosphere in the radiatively active cloud run compares better with MGS TES and MRO MCS data. However, the water cycle dries out considerably with radiatively active clouds. There are several reasons for this but the main reason appears to be related to a cooling of the North Polar Residual Cap (NPRC) in the model that is brought about by the reflective nature of the clouds that develop in the lower atmosphere immediately above the NPRC. These clouds increase the planetary albedo at these latitudes and reduce the solar flux at the surface, which is not sufficiently compensated for by an increase in downward infrared emission. Our conclusion at this point, based upon comparison with MRO MCS and MARCI data, is that the model is overpredicting the cloud fields in the vicinity of the NPRC.