Estimation of Atmospheric Haze Variability and Seasonal Variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) Height Over Kasei Valles of Mars

Estimation of Atmospheric Haze Variability and Seasonal Variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) Height Over Kasei Valles of Mars | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Estimation of Atmospheric Haze Variability and Seasonal Variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) Height Over Kasei Valles of Mars Dr. Jyotirmoy Kalita, Dr. Binita Pathak, Dr. Sonal jain, Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Images from Mars Color Camera (MCC) onboard India’s first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) during Martian years 33 and 34 provides the evidence of dense haze, water ice cloud, and all scale dust storms over Kasei Valles. The clouds and haze contained both fine mode and coarse mode particles with effective radius of 0.3 to 2.8 microns, further contributing to the variation of Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD). This variation temporally perturbs the atmospheric circulation process over the Valles. The Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD) varies from ~ 1.2 to ~ 2.3, with a varying scale height optical depth of ~ 6 to ~ 10 km. Estimated temperature varies from 180K ± 10K up to 240 K ± 15K, creates a favorable condition for deep convection activity. A very high wind speed of ~ 70 to ~ 100 m/s is conducive for redistributing the aerosols over the Kasei Valles. This is further evidenced by the variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) height. CBL height varies from ~ 3km to ~ 9km in the temporal range of Ls = 50° to Ls = 280°. During the non-dust storm season (Ls = 50° to Ls = 100°.), adiabatic perturbation and downward enhanced precipitation contribute to the appearance of water ice haze over the valley. We also reported the presence of carbon like elements in the fog/morning haze based on the analysis of green spectral channel with varying AOD from 1.8 to 2.3. Acidalia Storm Track (AST) puts significant input in the dust variability process over Kasei Valles at (24.6°N/ 65.0°W) during the observed period. Planetary Science AST CBL Scale height of AOD Atmospheric Circulation. Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Highlights • Due to different atmospheric factors, high dust loading enhances the scale height of optical depth over Kasei Valles. • Reported dust storms carried by Acidalia Storm Track (AST) plays a vital role in dust variability process. • Seasonal variation of CBL height highlights its role in the planetary circulation and dust mixing process. • Temporal variation of CBL from aphelion to perihelion over the Valles caries the evidence of high atmospheric turbulences. 1. INTRODUCTION Martian atmosphere is always full of high turbulence and that plays a major role in keeping the dust aerosols and water ice clouds suspended in the atmosphere for a longer scale of time ( Mishra et al., 2015 ). Further, these aerosols and clouds contribute to the variation of optical depth ( Mishra et al., 2015 ). Martian dust storms vary from microscopic scale to large-scale like planet- encircling dust storms which is significantly large with longitudinal axis > 2000 km; ( Martin and Zurek, 1993 ). The scientific community tried to understand the origin of dust storms and the planet's circulation pattern through various studies ( Golitsyn, 1973; Gierasch and Goody, 1973 ). Large-scale dust storms like regional and Global dust storms used to last for more than a sol or even for weeks and significantly affect the atmospheric structure and the planetary circulation ( Martin and Richardson, 1993; Smith et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2003; Cantor, 2007; Strausberg et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007). Haberle et al. (1982 ) reported that the equatorward dust storm injected dust into the rising branch of the Hadley circulation. The hazes and fogs in Kasei Valles appear due the sublimation process, or due to the redistribution of the aerosols caused by high wind speed ( Mishra et al., 2015 ). Previous studies reported from the various Mars missions that the haze inside the low-lying areas and Valles consists of dust particles ( Inada et al., 2008 ). Because of the high topographic diversity, which frequently creates its own atmospheric fluctuation independent of the planet, the Kasei Valley's depth of up to 4 km piques interest in studying the behavior of the atmosphere on mesoscales. Up to 60 km may be covered by the haze, which would raise the typical dust opacity in the region (Cantor, 2007; Mishra et al., 2016). On Mars, low-altitude terrain devoid of dust storms displayed water ice clouds and fog (Benson et al., 2010). The scientific community used opacity analysis to try and determine how dust storms cause movement in the dust and how that affects the planet's circulation (Heavens et al., 2011; Guzewich et al., 2015, 2017). Kasei Valles is thought to be the greatest liquid flow route based on earlier research. Those Valles are carrying evidence of past oceanic activities on Mars ( Duran et al., 2020 ). In order to report the dust opacity, water ice opacity, and temperature associated with the dust occurrences recorded by the Mars Color Camera (MCC), the current work evaluated the MCS data. On MY 32 (Ls = 212), MCS records an increase in mid-level air temperature during the local dust storm. We were able to determine the vertical mixing of air and airborne dust because to the fluctuation in CBL height. The current study attempted to link the impacts of the Acidalia Storm Track (AST) across the Kasei Valleys and examined potential causes for the spatiotemporal fluctuation of these atmospheric anomalies. In order to correlate changes in the local atmospheric structure, the dust storm over the impacted region is also tracked using the MARCI Daily Global Maps (MDGM) and weekly weather reports. Weather reports were checked for validation in the current investigation. The area of interest is illustrated in Fig. 1 . 2. INSTRUMENT AND DATA With a frame size of around 40 km x 40 km from Periareion, the Mars Color Camera (MCC) on board Mangalyaan takes pictures in the snap-shot mode at 500 km altitude with an Instantaneous Geometric Field of View (IGFOV) of 20 m. Visit https://mrbrowse.issdc.gov.in/MOMLTA/login.xhtml to view MCC data. Using an RGB Bayer pattern and an area array detector with 2048 × 2048 components on a 5.5µm pixel pitch, it covers the whole Martian disk from Apoareion. The geometry and angle information related to the picture file are located in two distinct locations. We corrected angle values using the angle data and corrected pixels using the geometry data. Since September 24, 2006 (LS = 111°, MY 28), MCS has monitored the Martian limb, nadir, and off-nadir in nine broadband channels to identify condensates, temperature, and dust (McCleese et al., 2007). Through limb observations with a moderate (5 km) vertical resolution, we can extract vertical profiles of temperature (K), dust extinction (km-1; at 463 cm − 1 wavenumber), and water ice extinction (km-1; at 843 cm-1 wavenumber) from the surface to approximately 80 km altitude through MRO observation (Kleinböhl et al., 2009). We utilized the MCS DDR data for MY 33–34 that is accessible in PDS at the following link: https://pdsatmospheres.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/Mars/Mars.html Aerosol mixing ratio and density-scaled opacity are correlated. Furthermore, Forget et al. (1999)'s profile is insufficient to predict the vertical dust distribution at certain latitudes and seasons. Furthermore, opacity scaled by density helps to understand a particular dust profile's radiative and dynamic importance ( Heavens et al., 2011 ). MARCI images are stitched together from 3pm/3am local time images. These images show the changes (the occurrence of dust storm events or clouds) in the atmosphere, from a sun-synchronous orbit along with the surface features such as polar caps or surface ice deposits ( Malin et al., 2001; Bell et al., 2009; Cantor et al., 2010 ). Present work consulted MARCI images available in https://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html is used to identify local/regional dust storm events, their place of origin, and their impact area. 3. METHODOLOGY The present work focuses on the atmospheric phenomenon viz. dust storms, dust haze, and water ice cloud over Kasei Valles (centered at 24.6° N/ 65.0° W) during 2014–2018. To achieve the objective first we converted the MCC visible bands radiance data (L 𝞴 ) to top of atmosphere reflectance (I/F 𝞴 ) using the observation constraints and a solar spectrum scaled to Mars–Sun distance. The (I/F 𝞴 ) is defined as, $$\:\frac{I}{{F}_{\lambda\:}}=\pi\:L\lambda\:/\:(F\lambda\:,0\:cos(i\left)\:cos\right(\theta\:\left)\right)$$ 1 Where L 𝞴 , i and θ refer to the spectral radiance observed by MCC, the incidence angle and the solar zenith angle, respectively. F 𝞴,0 refer to Mars–Sun distance corrected top of the atmosphere incoming solar flux per unit of surface assuming a Lambertian surface at wavelength 𝞴. Also, from the image reflectance data, we tried to calculate the albedo value as, Albedo = F+/F-. Where F + is reflected radiation and F- is the incident radiation on the surface. In our present work, we estimated the angstrom exponent value using TOA flux as follows, ( \(\:\frac{{\lambda\:}_{1}}{{\lambda\:}_{2}}{)}^{-\alpha\:}=\frac{{(I/F)}_{{\lambda\:}_{1}}}{{(I/F)}_{{\lambda\:}_{2}}}\) (2) Where, λ 1 and λ 2 are the wavelengths for the red and blue channels for the MCC images. We estimated the angstrom exponent (α) value based on the ratio of the spectral response of these channels throughout the penetrating path in the Martian atmosphere. If α > 1, r eff < λ, r eff being the effective radius of the particles and dominance of fine mode and vice versa for the coarse mode particle ( Kalita et al., 2021a, 2021b ). We used the contrast variation of the stereo images to estimate the Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD). The contrast of the remote sensing stereo images depends primarily on the optical thickness of the atmosphere. The surface becomes less visible for a planet in the observed images due to an increment in AOD. Therefore, the observed contrast at the top of the atmosphere decreases. ( Hoekzema et al. (2007, 2010, Kalita et al., 2021a, 2021b ). Same is described through a method to compare the contrasts in two HRSC stereo images. In case of MCC we derive the AOD values, following the same method ( Kalita et al., 2021a, 2021b ) $$\:\tau\:=\left[\frac{\mu\:1\mu\:2}{\mu\:1-\mu\:2}\right]log\left\{\frac{\left[contrast\left(I1\right)/\left(I1\right)\right]}{\left[\frac{contrast\left(I2\right)}{\left(I2\right)}\right]}\right\}$$ 3 Where, and are the mean image intensity over the analyzed region. The quantities and are used here to force S 1 and S 2 into having the same average intensity. To determine the scale height of AOD, we further performed an exponential fit on the AOD data. The nature of air mixing and dust redistribution is obtained by comparing the heights of the AOD and pressure scales. We are encouraged to look into and confirm the results using the most trustworthy MCS data because of the mixing's type (strong or mild). For that reason, we used MCS data to determine the CBL height. Leopestro et al. (2011) described how to use the Stefan–Boltzmann formula to determine the planetary temperature based on the planet's albedo value. The similar approach was used in our current study to determine the local temperature of the observed region (Kalita et al., 2021b). Initially, we compute the opacity scaled by density obtained from the extinction of MCS dust and water ice extinction data. We used the data to estimate the mixing ratio of dust particle, then using the Mie theory; we calculated the effective radius of the particle as follows, $$\:mixing\:ratio\left({q}_{d}\right)=\frac{4{\rho\:}_{d}(\:{d}_{z}\tau\:{\:)\:r}_{eff}}{3{Q}_{ext}\rho\:}$$ 4 Also, the effective radius of water ice particle as, $$\:mixing\:ratio\left({q}_{I}\right)=\frac{4{\rho\:}_{I}(\:{d}_{z}\tau\:{\:)\:r}_{eff}}{3{Q}_{ext}\rho\:}$$ 5 The value of ‘Qext’ is 0.78 for water ice particle, and 0.350 in the case of a dust particle can be obtained from the Mie theory described by (Kleinböhl et al., 2009). Density ρ is obtained from MCS data using the ideal gas equation \(\:{.\:{\rho\:}}_{\text{I}}\:\text{a}\text{n}\text{d}\:{{\rho\:}}_{\text{d}}\) are the retrieved densities that have the value of 900 kg m − 3 and 3000 kg m − 3 respectively. The calculated effective radius of the particles varies from 1.40 to 3.2 µm. Further, we plot the static stability value (S) as a function of altitude. Observed S value should be in between 1 and 2 with corresponding height that helps us to estimate the CBL. CBL height is difficult to calculate accurately. We consider the S value 1.5 to determine the CBL height. CBL height through occultation method is given by, $$\:S=\frac{dT}{dZ}+\frac{g}{{c}_{p}}$$ 6 Where g is the acceleration due to gravity \(\:\frac{dT}{dZ}\) is the temperature gradient, and the Cp is the specific heat at constant pressure. Further, we subtracted the elevation of the area from occultation height to get the actual value of CBL. . 4. Observational Results A few small and regional scale dust storms were seen across the eastern and southeast regions of the Kasei Valles (centered at 32°N/59°W) between October 11, 2014, and March 13, 2018 (Fig. 2 ), according to MCC true color pictures and the MARCI daily global map. Thick water-ice clouds above the Kasei Valles are visible throughout the non-dust storm season (13/11/2015, 5/12/2015.....all six occurrences shown in the lower panel of Fig. 2 ). According to earlier research, water ice clouds typically form above the tropical belt's highlands and volcanoes. The same has been demonstrated and examined in our most recent study. Martian westerlies are important in propelling the cloud layer over the Kasei Valles when dust storm season ends. Additionally, Fig. 2 shows light evening haze over the valley on 13 November and 5 December 2015. We analyzed data based on the reflectance at top of the atmosphere. Based on red, blue and green channel TOA we categorized the elements present in the observed phenomena. To display maximum reflectivity in the green channel, components resembling carbon are employed. Since the TOA reflectance has a maximum value near the green channel, it may be determined via TOA reflectance that the haze is comprised of carbon-like elements. The scientific community has been studying carbon-containing fog hazy for a long time (G. Strazzulla et al., 1995). During a dust storm on a local and regional scale, the MCC image reflectance values for the red channel are expected to be around 0.09 for α > 1. We estimated the r eff of fine mode particles to vary from ~ 200 nm to 300 nm, based on the dust mixing ratio data derived from the MCD web interface database. During the non-dust storm season in 2015, 2017, and 2018, cloud stacks appeared that contain coarse mode particles (α < 1) having effective radius varying from ~ 1000 nm to 3000 nm. α value is varying from 1.5 to 2.2 for fine mode and 0.6 to 0.8 for coarse mode particle. Further, the albedo values during the dust storm over the Kasei Valles obtained using the TOA reflectance data are found to vary from 0.4 to 0.6 for dust aerosols and 0.5 to 0.8 for water ice particles. Figure 3 illustrates the derived albedo color map for the MCC captured images. Estimated temperature ranges from 200K to 240 K during dust storm season and 180 K to 200 K during non-dust storm season. We verified the temperature value with MCD-GCM and MCS observational data. Analysis of MCC image data provides an estimation of the required parameters within ~ ± 2% error. The present work consulted other databases, i.e., MCS onboard MRO and Mars Climate Database (MCD) based Global Circulation Model (GCM), to estimate the error. In order to support our conclusion, we also looked at MARCI's daily weather report. A localized dust storm and its impact on the observed region, such as some dust-lifting in Hellas, Noachis, and Argyre, were recorded by MARCI. But by the end of October 2014, the activity in those locations had mostly decreased. Figure 2 shows the dust storm as it subsided on October 28, 2014, as reported by MCC. Local storms occurred in south-central Arabia as storms moved southward along the Acidalia storm track (AST). The transportation and settling of suspended dust haze, which was picked up on October 21, 2014, as well as strong storm activity, defined the observation timeframe. Our hypothesis on the influence of AST over the Valles is confirmed by MARCI. Over the eastern portion of Kasei Valles, the first storm weakened, which we may observe through MCC also, and the second storm declined over the southern part of Lunae Plenum and Kasei Valles. Dust moves in an intricate way as a result of the deep convection process, which combines advective and convective movements. Large-scale electric fields are known to result from the turbocharging and altitude distribution of aerosol particle sizes during Martian dust storms (Melnik & Parrot, 1998). A dust storm of local magnitude was seen in December 2014, moving southward toward Gale Crater from western Elysium. In addition, we have studied the daily variation of the AOD and Albedo during December 12, 2015, where we found a minimum AOD and Albedo value during daytime with a temperature of 200K. Figure 3 shows the albedo color map in relation to Fig. 2 . Figure 4(a) shows the derived MCC temperature data. Temperature data has been verified with MCS observational data ( figure 4(b)). Before that, we have verified our albedo values within 2% with the SWIR albedo map in Singh et al., 2014. Comparison with MCS observational data confirmed our estimation of Temperature within 10 K. Further, we estimated the scale height of AOD to be ~ 8.7 km over the longitude ranges from 50° W to 70°W (eastern side of the Kasei Valles) during a local dust storm traveling through AST (40° N). AOD values vary from 1.5 to 2.3 for the observed event December 2015, which coincides with the pressure scale height, indicating a homogeneous mixture of air and airborne dust over a longitudinal range from − 40° E to -70°E (eastern and western sides Kasei Valles) during Dec 2015. The dust haze appeared over the valley due to a local storm over Elysium tracking southward towards Gale Crater (3.0°N 154.7°E). During the non- Dust storm season, a stereo image method was applied on the MCC images taken during 5 March 2018 and found that the scale height of AOD varies from 5 km to 7 km indicating the presence of a non-homogeneous mixture of air over the Valles. The word "strong-mixing" implies the homogeneous while "weak-mixing" implies the heterogeneous air and airborne dust mixing, which is further explained using CBL height calculation. The strength of the mixing process is estimated using CBL height. In the present work, we consider a transact along 24⁰ N to see the variation of AOD with the height profile. In Fig. 5 , we may see how AOD is varying with surface altitude. To estimate the surface irregularities, we consulted MOLA-DEM (digital elevation map), that gives a minimum AOD value at -1.5 km and a maximum at ~ 1 km from the mean surface level. Further, we fitted the AOD values along with the estimated height to calculate the scale height of AOD, as shown in Fig. 6 . The fitted data took an exponential pattern, where a change in the AOD by a factor “e” (exponent) gives the scale height. We have considered three transacts to see the effect of the dust storm over Kasey Valles. We found that accretion of the aerosol finally deposits at the beneath of the valle. Figure 7 clearly shows that at the dip portion of the valle’s walls are accompanied with high AOD. Further, we compare our estimated scale height of AOD with the pressure scale height using MCD-GCM. The presence of a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust motivates us to investigate the CBL height using MCS data. Figure 8 illustrates the opacity profile during the 2014 local dust storm. Dust mixing ratio over the observed area is estimated to be 1.3x10 − 3 m 2 kg − 1 to 0.8x10 − 2 m 2 kg − 1 . We may see increased dust opacity from 11 Oct to 28 Oct 2014 due to the enhancement in vertical mixing initiated by the local dust storm ( Basu et al., 2008; Fisher et al., 2005 ). After the clearance of the dust storm on 28 Oct 2014, we may see an increment in dust extinction value hence an increment in dust opacity. This high dust extinction value is attributed to the weak vertical mixing of the surface-lifted dust over the observed region ( Spiga et al., 2017 ). In Fig. 4 , we may see an uneven distribution of dust over Lunae planum at the starting phase of the dust storm. Water ice opacity is less compared to dust opacity during the 2014 local dust storm period. The uncertainty in extinction usually varies from 10 − 5 and 10 − 6 km − 1 for MRO dust observational data ( Benson et al., 2010 ), whereas the uncertainty in the altitude data varies as ± 1 km ( Heavens et al., 2011 ). In the present work, water ice opacity during a non-dust storm season (2015, 2017, and 2018) varies from 1x10 − 3 km − 1 to 3x10 − 3 km − 1 . Further, we used the calculated opacity value to estimate the averaged water ice mixing ratio and hence calculated the effective radius of the water ice particle. In order to examine the mixing pattern over the impact site, we plotted the convective boundary layer (CBL) height. The seasonal distributions determined by MCC using the date of picture acquisition. The whole temporal fluctuation of the CBL height was separated into two seasons: the dust storm season and the non-dust storm season. Figure 9 shows the temporal change in the CBL's height. We can forecast the kind of air and airborne dust mixing below and above CBL based on the height of CBL. We also provided the height of the haze that occurs over the Kasei Valles since we showed the opacity profile as a function of altitude in Fig. 8 . When there is a dust storm, the dust can reach an altitude of 30 to 80 km whereas during a non-dust storm season height of the water ice varies from 20 to 45 km. Loaded dust contributes to the intense vertical mixing in the upper atmosphere by absorbing solar energy and radiatively heating the surrounding environment, which in turn promotes deep convective activity. Reduced dust opacity is a sign of strong upper atmosphere mixing via CBL and vice versa. CBL height is higher during a dust storm, allowing for vigorous mixing into the upper atmosphere. Over Aonia, a dust cloud was created by localized dust lifting episodes near the seasonal south polar ice cover. There was comparatively less dust storm activity in 2015 and 2017. Another wave of dust lifting activity occurred northwest of Argyre and stretched into Valles Marineris as the south polar hood continued to grow. In mid-December, a dust storm with localized effects was seen above Cimmeria. Diffuse afternoon water-ice clouds continued to hover over regions of great topographic relief further north in the equatorial latitudes. Dust haze and water-ice clouds were seen at the seasonal north polar ice cap's border on the northern plains. According to this weather report, the Hadley circulation mechanism is responsible for the mid-latitude crossing dust activity and the water ice cloud appearance above Kasei Valles. The worldwide situation as reported by the MARCI daily weather report is shown in Fig. 10 . Over the Kasei Valles, we limited our presentation of the MARCI daily weather report to the scenario of local and global dust storms. 5. Discussion Deep convective activities are important during Mars' dust storm season because they raise the surface temperature, which in turn causes the atmospheric boundary layer to rise and expand, as we have shown by analyzing the available data for MY 32 to 34 for the observed location. On October 11, 2014, a local scale dust storm developed at the northwest side of Kasei Valles; that specific dust storm has also been reported in Guha et al. (2018). The northeastern part also experienced a small dust event, which MCC has captured as reported in previous literature (Arya et al., 2017). We considered both the dust events for our present analysis. During evening time, the surface becomes cooler by 10K and causes a decrease in the CBL hence redistribution causing more albedo over the Valles. In the later section of the manuscript, we explained the phenomenon regarding the variation of CBL height. Deposition of the aerosol and water ice particle increases the albedo value and hence reflects back the incoming solar radiation. We used the TOA reflectance and incoming solar radiation value to calculate the albedo value for the observed region. Dust storms of all scale contribute to the increment of the AOD and hence affect atmospheric circulation. During the observed dust events, MCC albedo and temperature map helps to predict the local atmospheric circulation over Kasei Valles. On 11 Oct 2014, MCC shows the starting phase of the dust storm on the north side of Kasei Valles covering Lunae plenum (31.06N/63.45W) at an elevation level of -856 m from the mean surface level. On 21 Oct 2014, the storm reached the entire phase and caused dustiness in the atmosphere. After that, it was diminishing over time. Due to all regional and local dust storms during the mentioned period, MCC captured a hazy atmosphere at the end of 2014. The dust and haze were distributed all over the area near Kasei Valles (24.06N/65.45W) and Louros Valles (8.07S/81.32W) at an elevation of 3232 m from the mean surface level. The dust feature on the southeastern side of Kasei Valles, as we mentioned earlier, indicates an encounter of dust mass with high-speed wind. Also, it suggests the probability of dust storm contribution from the extreme eastern part of the Valles Marineris. Dust events over Hales region firmly contribute to the observed haze event at the east part of the Kasei Valles during December 2014. Our present work also reported the atmosphere of Kasei Valles during the non-dust storm season. However, thick water-ice clouds and dust haze used to appear during the non-dust storm seasons. We consulted GCM-MCD to understand the wind flow over the eastern part of the Kasei Valles. A horizontal wind speed value of 107 m/s and vertically downward wind speed of 1m/s confirms the wind encounter with dust haze during the observed event. In 2015, a small amount of dust haze and tropical cloud appeared on the southwestern part of the Lunae planum. These are mainly tropical cloud usually appear during Martian Autumn season. During September 2016, Mars experienced so many regional dust storms, and they contributed to the appearance of dust haze over Kasei Valles. In 2017, we may observe a hazy atmosphere over Kasei Valles, and in March 2018, MCC captured a thick cloud coverage over Lunae planum and Kasei Valles. Those clouds are seasonal and usually appear over the tropical belt. The calculated average temperature value is 190 K over the observed area. Since the estimated temperature is based on the top of the atmosphere reflectance value, it constrains the prediction of haze height from the mean surface. MCS temperature plot is prepared as a function of altitude to estimate the altitude and verify our MCC result. MCS data shows a height range from 20 km to 40 km indicates the dust injection to Mars’s mesosphere. During a dust storm season, the estimated temperature is 200 to 240 K, indicating a good condition for deep convective activity. In addition, we reported a diurnal variation of albedo on 5 December 2015 over Kasei Valles based on the available data. We find the atmosphere to be opaquer over Kasei Valles during the daytime due to the deposition and suspension of dust aerosols. During night time the albedo value decreases, indicating the presence of fewer aerosols in the atmosphere. Diurnal variation of albedo is found to be 0.1 to 0.2 in a time gap of 6 hours. Almost 15% increment in the albedo values during daytime suggested activity of dust event. An increment of 10 K is attributed to the deep convective activity near Kasei Valles. The estimated value of scale height of AOD varies from 7.5 to 10 km. In contrast, pressure scale height varies from 8 to 10 km, indicates a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust over the observed area during a dust storm season. The nature of the mixture of air and air-born dust motivates us to investigate the CBL height estimated based on the MCS data. Intense mixing implies homogeneous, and weak mixing implies a heterogeneous mixture of air and air-born particles. CBL height is the parameter that may verify our MCC results, whether cloud or a dust haze over Kasei Valles. Also, we consider a particular case of the 2018 global dust storm to see the dust extinction. In March 2018, we observed a thick water ice cloud over the Kasei Valles. We may see the maximum contribution of dust storm effect over the southern tropics and sub-tropics and is due to merging of the advected thick dust haze towards the southern hemisphere from the Acidalia region, primarily influenced by the prevailing wind with the dust lifting activity over the Hellas region (MARCI weather report). Clancy et al. (2010) suggested lifted dust above 60 km altitude during the 2001 global dust storm using TES observations. Our present analysis reported the dust altitude as 45 to 50 Km during the 2018 global dust storm. The temperature varies from 200 to 240 K at the height of 45 to 50 km during the global dust event. This high temperature possibly creates enough convection to strengthen the dust storm (Michaels and Rafkin, 2004; Rafkin, 2009; Spiga et al., 2010). The dust storm migrated from the Acidalia region to Kasei Valles. Increased dust loading can warm the air to expand the atmosphere. This high temperature of 220 K at the altitude of 60 to 80 km is almost 40 K more elevated than the mean value, possibly creates enough convection to strengthen the dust storm ( Michaels and Rafkin, 2004; Rafkin, 2009; Spiga et al., 2010 ). This large-scale dust storm we may see in figure 10 migrated from extreme eastern longitude. In 2014 at the height of 60 km, we estimated the temperature to be 170 K, whereas, in 2018, we found it to be 220K. An increment of 50 K strengthens the intense dust storm to cover the whole planet and raise the HATDM layer at LS = 195°. We also estimate the scenario for post dust global dust storms based on MRO-MCS data. Post-global dust storm accompanied increased CBL height, increased temperature, and intense vertical mixing of air and air-born dust. In figure 10, during 2018 GDS, we may also observe a negative correlation between dust extinction and temperature data along the planetary latitude, further explaining the complete CBL phenomenology. Mars daily global maps from MRO/MARCI captured images of Mars daily, from a (3 AM–3 PM) sun-synchronous orbit for monitoring the occurrence of dust storm events or clouds over the polar caps or surface ice deposits. ( Malin et al., 2001; Bell et al., 2009; Cantor et al., 2010 ). During the 2018 global dust storm, the CBL height varies from ~7 to ~8 km. Post dust storm CBL height ranges from 10 to 12 km, indicating an intense mixing of air and air-born dust due to the expansion of the Martian atmosphere after the dust storm. On July 01, 2018, CBL height reached 10.7 km, confirming CBL height after the dust storm. The expansion occurs due to a hike in the temperature. If we consider seasonal variation, then CBL height is slightly less than the scenario presented for 2018. Excessive deposition of dust warms the atmosphere, and hence CBL height increases accordingly. We don’t have MCC data during the 2018 global dust storm. So, we only analyzed the MRO data during the 2018 global dust storm to see the atmospheric effect. The southwestern side of Kasei Valles experienced a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust over longitude 29° to 39° (eastern side of Lunae plenum), indicating the similarities between scale height of AOD and pressure scale height during October 2018. Using albedo values, we calculated the approximate temperature. Our reported temperature value varies from 200 to 240 K. During 2016 CBL height varied from 5.6 km to 7.2 Km. Our present study also discusses the vertical mixing initiated after a dust storm for our observed area. We plotted the convective boundary layer (CBL) height to analyze the mixing over the impact location in the figure . We may see a moderate CBL height during the solar-longitude 200° to 209°. The dust storm tremendously causes the vertical lifting of aerosols. In MARCI daily weather report, a massive dust storm has been reported over the Hellas region crossing the tropical belt during 2018 (https://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html). MARCI observed the most prominent regional dust storms over the northern hemisphere of Mars. The large arcuate-shaped dust storm, reported by MARCI, propagated eastward over the mid-latitudes of the north of Utopia Planitia before abating. By the end of the season, the storm stretched from Solis in the west to Cimmeria in the east, encompassing more than 30-mile square kilometers. Condensate water-ice clouds, typically observed above the significant shield volcanoes of Tharsis, were absent during the second half of the week due to warmer atmospheric conditions caused by the storm. 6. Conclusions The present study focuses on the air conditions above the Kasei Valles, the biggest valles on Mars. The Valles had nearly every type of dust storm between 2014 and 2018, ranging from local/regional to worldwide in scope. The incoming sun energy has been obstructed because of the dust storms' additional contribution to the high dust loading across the measured area. In the end, it aids in the temperature variation in the region in question. The scale height of AOD was accurately determined by MCC image reflectance to be between 8 and 10 kilometers above. The computed scale height further controls the Hadley circulation processes over the Valles and is beneficial to the deep convection activity. The atmosphere's thermal expansion facilitates the air's and airborne dust's intense mixing below. CBL and creates dustiness over the Kasei Valles. During a dust storm season, Mars Climate Sounder data indicates a high dust opacity of around 3x10-3 km-1, with dust height reaching the mesospheric level. Fine mode aerosols, which have an effective radius of around 300 nm, are present in the atmosphere and have uniformly mixed with it below 10 km of CBL height. Additionally, the study demonstrates that Kasei Valles are significantly impacted by the Acidalia Storm Track during the dust storm season. Aerosols above the Valles have been redistributed due to strong meridian winds in conjunction with AST. The whole circulation process above Kasei Valles is explained by the Hadley circulation mechanism, which also accounts for the strong wind flow in subtropical highs and westerlies. The albedo value rises up to 0.8 when dense clouds of water ice (Re ~ 3000 nm) develop. Further scope of research : Drawing from the findings of the recent studies conducted by Duran et al. (2020), Voosen et al. (2020), Stone et al. (2020), as well as our own analysis, we have directed future research efforts to investigate the remarkable influence of the AST circulation pattern on Mars' greatest liquid flow channel. A model comprising four phases of water activity was put out by earlier mapping investigations to explain the erosion and development of Kasei Valles (Chapman et al., 2010 and Dundas et al., 2019). Water eventually left the Martian atmosphere due to a frequent series of dust storms that carried it into the ionosphere and exposed it to ultraviolet radiation. We require additional pertinent data to support our hypothesis. There aren't many studies yet that demonstrate how important local and worldwide dust storms are to water escape. Thus, we may investigate how this small but effective dust storm may affect the Martian atmosphere. References Arya, A. S., Sarkar, S. S., Srinivas, A. R., Manthira Moorthi, S., Patel, V. D., Singh, R. B. 2015. Mars Colour Camera: the payload characterization/calibration and data analysis from Earth imaging phase. Current Science. 109(06), 1076 -1 086. Benson, J. L., D. M. Kass, A. Kleinböhl, D. J. McCleese, J. T. Schofield, and F. W. Taylor. 2010. Mars‟ south polar hood as observed by the Mars Climate Sounder. J. Geophys.Res., doi:10.1029/2009JE003554. Cantor, B. A. 2007. MOC observations of 2001 planet encircling dust storm. Icarus, 186, 60-96. Clancy, R. T. et al. 2000. An intercomparison of ground‐ based millimeter, MGS TES, and Viking atmospheric temperature measurements: Seasonal and interannual variability of temperatures and dust loading in the global Mars atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 105(E4), 9553–9571. Clarke, J. T. 2018. Dust-enhanced water escape. Nature Astronomy, 2(2), 114–115. doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0383-6 Clarke, J. T., Mayyasi, M., Bhattacharyya, D., Schneider, N. M., McClintock, W. E., Deighan, J. I., Jakosky, B. M. 2017. Variability of D and H in the Martian upper atmosphere observed with the MAVEN IUVS echelle channel. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. doi:10.1002/2016ja023479 Clarke, J.T., Bertaux, J.-L., Chaufray, J.-Y., Gladstone, G.R., Quemerais, E., Wilson, J.K., Bhattacharyya, D. 2014. A rapid decrease of the hydrogen corona of Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 8013–8020. doi:10.1002/2014GL061803. Dundas, Colin M.; Cushing, Glen E.; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P. 2019. The flood lavas of Kasei Valles, Mars. Icarus, 321(), 346–357. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.008 Duran, S., Coulthard, T.J. The Kasei Valles, Mars: a unified record of episodic channel flows and ancient ocean levels. Sci Rep 10, 18571 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75080-y Fisher, J. A., M. I. Richardson, C. E. Newman, et al. 2005. A survey of Martian dust devil activity Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbital Camera images. Journal of geophysical research, 110, E03004, doi:10.1029/2003JE002165. Forget, F., F. Hourdin, R. Fournier, C. Hourdin, O. Talagrand, M. Collins, S. R. Lewis, P. L. Read, and J. P. Huot.1999. Improved general circulation models of the Martian atmosphere from the surface to above 80 km. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 24,155– 24,176. G. Strazzulla; J.R. Brucato; G. Cimino; M.E. Palumbo (1996). Carbonic acid on Mars?. , 44(11), 1447–1450. doi:10.1016/s0032-0633(96)00079-7 Gierasch, P.J. and R.M. Goody. 1973. A Model of a Martian Great Dust Storm. J. Atmos. Sci., 30, 169–179. Golitsyn, G. S. 1973. On the Martian dust storms. Icarus, 18, 113 -1 19. Guha, B. K., Panda, J., & Chauhan, P. 2018. Analysing some Martian atmospheric characteristics associated with a dust storm over the Lunae Planum region during October 2014. Icarus. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.09.018 Guzewich, S.D. et al., 2015. Mars Orbiter Camera climatology of textured dust storms. Icarus 258, 1–13, doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2015.06.023. Guzewich, S.D. et al., 2017. An investigation of dust storms observed with the Mars Color Imager. Icarus, 289, 199–213, doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.02.020. HABERLE, R. M. 1986. Interannual Variability of Global Dust Storms on Mars. Science, 234(4775), 459–461. doi:10.1126/science.234.4775.459 Heavens, N. & Kass, David & Shirley, James & Piqueux, Sylvain & Cantor, Bruce. (2019). An Observational Overview of Dusty Deep Convection in Martian Dust Storms. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 76. 10.1175/JAS-D-19-0042.1. Heavens, N. G. 2011. The vertical distribution of dust in the Martian atmosphere during northern spring and summer: Observations by the Mars Climate Sounder and analysis of zonal average vertical dust profiles. J. Geophys. Res., 116, E04003, doi:10.1029/2010JE003691. Heavens, N. G., Kleinböhl, A., Chaffin, M. S., Halekas, J. S., Kass, D. M., Hayne, P. O., Schofield, J. T. 2018. Hydrogen escape from Mars enhanced by deep convection in dust storms. Nature Astronomy, 2(2), 126–132. doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0353-4 Hoekzema, N.M. 2007. The scale-height of dust around Pavonis Mons from HRSC stereo images. In: Seventh International Conference on Mars, LPI Contributions No. 1353, p. 3154. Hoekzema, N.M. 2010. Optical depth and its scale-height in Valles Marineris from HRSC stereo images. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 294, 534–540. http://dx.doi.org/10.18520/cs/v109/i6/1076 -1 086 Kleinböhl, A. 2009. Mars Climate Sounder limb profile retrieval of atmospheric temperature, pressure, dust, and water ice opacity, J. Geophys. Res., 114, E10006, doi:10.1029/2009JE003358. LoPresto, Michael C.; Hagoort, Nichole (2011). Determining Planetary Temperatures with the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. The Physics Teacher, 49(2), 113–. doi:10.1119/1.3543589 Martin, L. J., and R. W. Zurek. 1993. An analysis of the history of dust activity on Mars. J. Geophys. Res., 98(E2), 3221–3246. Martin, T.Z., M. I. Richardson. 1993. New dust opacity mapping from Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper data. J. Geophys. Res., 98, 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/93JE01044. Mary G. Chapman; Gerhard Neukum; Alexander Dumke; Greg Michael; Stephan van Gasselt; Thomas Kneissl; Wilhelm Zuschneid; Ernst Hauber; Nicolas Mangold. 2010. Amazonian geologic history of the Echus Chasma and Kasei Valles system on Mars: New data and interpretations. 294(3-4), 0–255. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.11.034 McCleese, D. J. 2007. Mars Climate Sounder: An investigation of thermal and wate vapor structure, dust and condensate distributions in the atmosphere, and energy balance of the polar regions, J. Geophys. Res., 112, E05S06, doi:10.1029/2006JE002790. Melnik, O., & Parrot, M. 1998. Electrostatic discharge in Martian dust storms. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(A12), 29,107–29,117. https://doi.org/10.1029/98JA01954 Michaels, T. I., and S. C. R. Rafkin. 2004. Large eddy simulation of atmospheric convection on Mars. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 130, 1251– 1274, doi:10.1256/qj.02.169. Mishra, M. K., P. Chauhan, R. Singh, S. M. Moorthi, and S. S. Sarkar. 2016. Estimation of dust variability and scale height of Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD) in the Valles Marineris on Mars by Indian Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) data. Icarus, 265, 84-94. Rafkin, S. C. R. 2009. A positive radiative-dynamic feedback mechanism for the maintenance and growth of Martian dust storms. J. Geophys. Res., 114, E01009, doi:10.1029/2008JE003217. Shane W. Stone et al. 2020. Hydrogen escape from Mars is driven by seasonal and dust storm transport of water. Science 370 (6518): 824-831; doi: 10.1126/science.aba5229 Smith, M.D. 2002. The annual cycle of water vapor on Mars as observed by the thermal emission spectrometer. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 5115, doi.org/10.1029/2001JE001522. Spiga, A., F. Forget, S. R. Lewis, and D. Hinson. 2010. Structure and dynamics of the convective boundary layer on Mars as inferred from large-eddy simulations and remote sensing measurements. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 136: 414–428. DOI:10.1002/qj.563. Strausberg, M. J., H. Wang, M. I. Richardson, S. Ewald, A. D. Toigo. 2005. Observations of the initiation and evolution of the 2001 Mars global dust storm. J. Geophys. Res., 110 (E2). Voosen, Paul. 2020. Dust storms on Mars propel water's escape to space. Science, 370(6518), 755–755. doi:10.1126/science.370.6518.755 Wang, H. 2007. Dust storms originating in the northern hemisphere during the third mapping year of Mars Global Surveyor. Icarus, 189, 325–343, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.01.014. Wang, H., M. I. Richardson, R. J. Wilson, A. P. Ingersoll, and R. W. Zurek. 2003. Cyclones, Tides, and the Origin of Significant Dust Storms on Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 9, 1488. Doi:10.1029/2002GL016828. Wang, J.‐S., & Nielsen, E. 2003. Behavior of the Martian dayside electron density peak during global dust storms. Planetary and Space Science, 51(4‐5), 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0032‐0633(03)00015‐1 Williams, R. M., Phillips, R. J., & Malin, M. C. 2000. Flow rates and duration within Kasei Valles, Mars: Implications for the formation of a Martian Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(7), 1073–1076. doi:10.1029/1999gl010957 Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5480100","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":379780312,"identity":"9d8bf0eb-22f3-4179-aa3a-e9ab6ddb142d","order_by":0,"name":"Dr. Jyotirmoy Kalita","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Jyotirmoy","middleName":"","lastName":"Kalita","suffix":""},{"id":379780313,"identity":"196bd45a-6922-4faf-a0c9-2b53275e2136","order_by":1,"name":"Dr. Binita Pathak","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Binita","middleName":"","lastName":"Pathak","suffix":""},{"id":379780314,"identity":"ac7315cf-a507-4fb4-9d73-bb9e41ac7219","order_by":2,"name":"Dr. Sonal jain","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Sonal","middleName":"","lastName":"jain","suffix":""},{"id":379780315,"identity":"1c217ec5-12a8-46aa-8b46-86b2149ac9cb","order_by":3,"name":"Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Manoj","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"Mishra","suffix":""},{"id":379780316,"identity":"99017aab-e39f-4df0-95b1-aa25f7f19da2","order_by":4,"name":"Dr. Anirban Guha","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Anirban","middleName":"","lastName":"Guha","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-11-19 04:50:00","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":69829254,"identity":"5078ce4d-de48-440d-aa82-32ce7bb2c602","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:30","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":1122127,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRegion of Kasei Valles along with the geographical position. The white circle represents the area that was influenced by the dust storm occur in Acidalia Region. In the right-hand side figure, the raster data is layered on the MOLA topography map based on the ISRO-MOM-MCC-AERO data to show the coordinate of the influenced area. The left-hand side figure illustrates the MOLA topography map to understand the elevation of the topography with the help of the color bar.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/44c41d49c19cfb4a50c40dcf.png"},{"id":69829256,"identity":"0e9a8d27-f7f2-4101-871c-2ff9198aba7e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:31","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":1329809,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eLocal/regional dust storm and water ice cloud over the Kasei Valles, including Lunae plenum (31.06N/63.45W) at an elevation level of -856 m from the mean surface level captured by MCC-MOM. The dust storm reached its complete phase on 21 Oct 2014 and diminishes by the end of the month. Also, we see the contribution of a dust storm in dust and haze distribution over the Kasei Valles and Louros Valles (8.07S/81.32W) at an elevation level of 3232 m from the mean surface level on 28 Oct 2014. Further, during MY 34, the thick and bright water ice cloud over the Kasei Valles is observable. We consider an area of ±10° longitude range from the center (nearabout ~300 Km) for our observation.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/6c8086664dffd267e0333344.png"},{"id":69830365,"identity":"0ce8f4a3-0044-424d-80c2-b0a96c047cb1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:32:30","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":1034851,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e illustrates the albedo map concerning \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e 2. We see high albedo value due to the hazy atmosphere during 28 Oct 2014. In connection with \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e 2, we see the development of the dust storm with an albedo value that varies from ~0.4 to 0.6 and end up with an albedo value of 0.5.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/639cd74182073559b8d5c18f.png"},{"id":69829261,"identity":"d152dc93-fe5b-4cf6-9ddd-266f4cad2bec","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:31","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":329201,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eTemperature color map based on the albedo value. The reported temperature is 200 K over the observed region. Temperature variation is illustrated on the right-side plot, and the latitude and altitude values are estimated based on MCS temperature data. If we compare both the images, we may see both the surface temperature coincides with the observed area, i.e., 200 K. Black circles show surface position where the dust storm has been observed.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/06fc77736c445c6668e63b60.png"},{"id":69831995,"identity":"e9873801-e420-41f4-8893-b208b4b7a879","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:40:31","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":153135,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eVariation of AOD as a function of the elevation from the surface. Negative AOD and AOD more the 2.4 (\u003cem\u003ePreviously reported maximum AOD\u003c/em\u003e) values have been discarded to prepare the exponential fit. After the filtration, we found an increasing trend of AOD along with the elevation profile.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/a9e4d67457e81bd973da850b.png"},{"id":69830366,"identity":"f23947da-f6fa-44c8-b681-ae7304b230b2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:32:31","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":88264,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eExponential fitting of AOD against the elevation from the mean surface level along the 58̊W/ (20⁰-40⁰) N. Negative elevation indicates the elevation bellow mean surface level. “0” indicates the mean surface level (\u003cem\u003eFigure 8(A) Mishra et al., 2016\u003c/em\u003e) .\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/c516a3499651df906cc41d9d.png"},{"id":69829258,"identity":"77f87aff-ab0e-4e8f-80ab-20c47587eb76","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:31","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"Figure 7","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":114054,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eGraph of effected area (Transact 3) . Exponential fitting of AOD against the elevation from the surface along 46⁰ W to 72⁰ W longitude and 20⁰ N latitude.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/ca5a0438a65fc690dfc824e2.png"},{"id":69829262,"identity":"9c374bf7-b05a-47bc-98b1-5c849f0c004a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:31","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"Figure 8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":360145,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMRO-MCS dust extinction and water ice extinction profile about the ISRO MOM images for 11Oct, 20 Oct, 28 Oct, and 29 Oct 2014 (Ls=212.1, 218.2, 222.5, 223.7). Location can be traced for the dust event from the extinction color plots.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/c06757ac1686b3363aeac7c8.png"},{"id":69830368,"identity":"3e0c4dd9-7a73-4844-aea6-caf61050a592","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:32:31","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"Figure 9","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":126722,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eVariation of CBL height with the solar longitude. The above plot firmly helped to estimate the vertical mixing of air from the curve. The blue circle represents the exact CBL data point at different observed solar longitude (Ls). \u0026nbsp;During high solar longitude (Ls\u0026gt; 210, CBL height varied from 8.2 km to 9.7 Km.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"9.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/a8bd0dd0a77ee0e32e869d3f.png"},{"id":69830369,"identity":"91956d37-4500-467f-a1aa-8bc1ab211f61","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:32:31","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"Figure 10","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":373377,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMARCI daily global map showing the dust storms about the MCC images. We may track the path and interconnect the dust haze events based on the map. The red circle indicates the dust storm on different dates during 2014 and 2018, and tiny white dots indicate the opportunity rover location.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"10.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/572e66330aefb822e589beda.png"},{"id":69829264,"identity":"a8f703f1-bf78-4677-b6d1-869e2b2025bc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:24:31","extension":"png","order_by":11,"title":"Figure 11","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":235619,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e2018 global dust storm scenario observed by MRO-MCS. The \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e illustrated the temperature, dust extinction, and water ice extinction during the global dust storm. We consider 58 W longitude to derive the latitudinal distribution. For the 2018 GDS event, the solar longitude is Ls= 187.7\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"11.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/79e929f6baae0d8298f18afd.png"},{"id":69832942,"identity":"30d699c1-6e74-4a00-bb96-ef0ce126af1f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 15:48:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":6656012,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5480100/v1/a7dd4320-1a53-44a4-819c-4bf804a2228c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEstimation of Atmospheric Haze Variability and Seasonal Variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) Height Over Kasei Valles of Mars\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"Highlights","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Due to different atmospheric factors, high dust loading enhances the scale height of optical depth over Kasei Valles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Reported dust storms carried by Acidalia Storm Track (AST) plays a vital role in dust variability process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Seasonal variation of CBL height highlights its role in the planetary circulation and dust mixing process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Temporal variation of CBL from aphelion to perihelion over the Valles caries the evidence of high atmospheric turbulences.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"1. INTRODUCTION","content":"\u003cp\u003eMartian atmosphere is always full of high turbulence and that plays a major role in keeping the dust aerosols and water ice clouds suspended in the atmosphere for a longer scale of time (\u003cem\u003eMishra et al., 2015\u003c/em\u003e). Further, these aerosols and clouds contribute to the variation of optical depth (\u003cem\u003eMishra et al., 2015\u003c/em\u003e). Martian dust storms vary from microscopic scale to large-scale like planet- encircling dust storms which is significantly large with longitudinal axis\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;2000 km; (\u003cem\u003eMartin and Zurek, 1993\u003c/em\u003e). The scientific community tried to understand the origin of dust storms and the planet's circulation pattern through various studies (\u003cem\u003eGolitsyn, 1973; Gierasch and Goody, 1973\u003c/em\u003e). Large-scale dust storms like regional and Global dust storms used to last for more than a sol or even for weeks and significantly affect the atmospheric structure and the planetary circulation (\u003cem\u003eMartin and Richardson, 1993; Smith et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2003; Cantor, 2007; Strausberg et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007). Haberle et al. (1982\u003c/em\u003e) reported that the equatorward dust storm injected dust into the rising branch of the Hadley circulation. The hazes and fogs in Kasei Valles appear due the sublimation process, or due to the redistribution of the aerosols caused by high wind speed (\u003cem\u003eMishra et al., 2015\u003c/em\u003e). Previous studies reported from the various Mars missions that the haze inside the low-lying areas and Valles consists of dust particles (\u003cem\u003eInada et al., 2008\u003c/em\u003e). Because of the high topographic diversity, which frequently creates its own atmospheric fluctuation independent of the planet, the Kasei Valley's depth of up to 4 km piques interest in studying the behavior of the atmosphere on mesoscales. Up to 60 km may be covered by the haze, which would raise the typical dust opacity in the region (Cantor, 2007; Mishra et al., 2016). On Mars, low-altitude terrain devoid of dust storms displayed water ice clouds and fog (Benson et al., 2010). The scientific community used opacity analysis to try and determine how dust storms cause movement in the dust and how that affects the planet's circulation (Heavens et al., 2011; Guzewich et al., 2015, 2017). Kasei Valles is thought to be the greatest liquid flow route based on earlier research. Those Valles are carrying evidence of past oceanic activities on Mars (\u003cem\u003eDuran et al., 2020\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn order to report the dust opacity, water ice opacity, and temperature associated with the dust occurrences recorded by the Mars Color Camera (MCC), the current work evaluated the MCS data. On MY 32 (Ls\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;212), MCS records an increase in mid-level air temperature during the local dust storm. We were able to determine the vertical mixing of air and airborne dust because to the fluctuation in CBL height. The current study attempted to link the impacts of the Acidalia Storm Track (AST) across the Kasei Valleys and examined potential causes for the spatiotemporal fluctuation of these atmospheric anomalies. In order to correlate changes in the local atmospheric structure, the dust storm over the impacted region is also tracked using the MARCI Daily Global Maps (MDGM) and weekly weather reports. Weather reports were checked for validation in the current investigation. The area of interest is illustrated in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. INSTRUMENT AND DATA","content":"\u003cp\u003eWith a frame size of around 40 km x 40 km from Periareion, the Mars Color Camera (MCC) on board Mangalyaan takes pictures in the snap-shot mode at 500 km altitude with an Instantaneous Geometric Field of View (IGFOV) of 20 m. Visit \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://mrbrowse.issdc.gov.in/MOMLTA/login.xhtml\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://mrbrowse.issdc.gov.in/MOMLTA/login.xhtml\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e to view MCC data. Using an RGB Bayer pattern and an area array detector with 2048 \u0026times; 2048 components on a 5.5\u0026micro;m pixel pitch, it covers the whole Martian disk from Apoareion. The geometry and angle information related to the picture file are located in two distinct locations. We corrected angle values using the angle data and corrected pixels using the geometry data.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince September 24, 2006 (LS\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;111\u0026deg;, MY 28), MCS has monitored the Martian limb, nadir, and off-nadir in nine broadband channels to identify condensates, temperature, and dust (McCleese et al., 2007). Through limb observations with a moderate (5 km) vertical resolution, we can extract vertical profiles of temperature (K), dust extinction (km-1; at 463 cm\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1 wavenumber), and water ice extinction (km-1; at 843 cm-1 wavenumber) from the surface to approximately 80 km altitude through MRO observation (Kleinb\u0026ouml;hl et al., 2009). We utilized the MCS DDR data for MY 33\u0026ndash;34 that is accessible in PDS at the following link:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e \u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://pdsatmospheres.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/Mars/Mars.html\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan address=\"https://pdsatmospheres.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/Mars/Mars.html\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003c/span\u003e Aerosol mixing ratio and density-scaled opacity are correlated. Furthermore, Forget et al. (1999)'s profile is insufficient to predict the vertical dust distribution at certain latitudes and seasons. Furthermore, opacity scaled by density helps to understand a particular dust profile's radiative and dynamic importance (\u003cem\u003eHeavens et al., 2011\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMARCI images are stitched together from 3pm/3am local time images. These images show the changes (the occurrence of dust storm events or clouds) in the atmosphere, from a sun-synchronous orbit along with the surface features such as polar caps or surface ice deposits (\u003cem\u003eMalin et al., 2001; Bell et al., 2009; Cantor et al., 2010\u003c/em\u003e). Present work consulted MARCI images available in \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is used to identify local/regional dust storm events, their place of origin, and their impact area.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. METHODOLOGY","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe present work focuses on the atmospheric phenomenon viz. dust storms, dust haze, and water ice cloud over Kasei Valles (centered at 24.6\u0026deg; N/ 65.0\u0026deg; W) during 2014\u0026ndash;2018. To achieve the objective first we converted the MCC visible bands radiance data (L\u003csub\u003e\u0026#120756;\u003c/sub\u003e) to top of atmosphere reflectance (I/F\u003csub\u003e\u0026#120756;\u003c/sub\u003e) using the observation constraints and a solar spectrum scaled to Mars\u0026ndash;Sun distance. The (I/F\u003csub\u003e\u0026#120756;\u003c/sub\u003e) is defined as,\u003cdiv id=\"Equ1\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ1\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:\\frac{I}{{F}_{\\lambda\\:}}=\\pi\\:L\\lambda\\:/\\:(F\\lambda\\:,0\\:cos(i\\left)\\:cos\\right(\\theta\\:\\left)\\right)$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e1\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere L\u003csub\u003e\u0026#120756;\u003c/sub\u003e, i and θ refer to the spectral radiance observed by MCC, the incidence angle and the solar zenith angle, respectively. F\u003csub\u003e\u0026#120756;,0\u003c/sub\u003e refer to Mars\u0026ndash;Sun distance corrected top of the atmosphere incoming solar flux per unit of surface assuming a Lambertian surface at wavelength \u0026#120756;. Also, from the image reflectance data, we tried to calculate the albedo value as, Albedo\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;F+/F-. Where F\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;is reflected radiation and F- is the incident radiation on the surface. In our present work, we estimated the angstrom exponent value using TOA flux as follows,\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\frac{{\\lambda\\:}_{1}}{{\\lambda\\:}_{2}}{)}^{-\\alpha\\:}=\\frac{{(I/F)}_{{\\lambda\\:}_{1}}}{{(I/F)}_{{\\lambda\\:}_{2}}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cem\u003e(2)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, λ\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e and λ\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e are the wavelengths for the red and blue channels for the MCC images. We estimated the angstrom exponent (α) value based on the ratio of the spectral response of these channels throughout the penetrating path in the Martian atmosphere. If α\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;1, r\u003csub\u003eeff\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;λ, r\u003csub\u003eeff\u003c/sub\u003e being the effective radius of the particles and dominance of fine mode and vice versa for the coarse mode particle (\u003cem\u003eKalita et al., 2021a, 2021b\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe used the contrast variation of the stereo images to estimate the Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD). The contrast of the remote sensing stereo images depends primarily on the optical thickness of the atmosphere. The surface becomes less visible for a planet in the observed images due to an increment in AOD. Therefore, the observed contrast at the top of the atmosphere decreases. (\u003cem\u003eHoekzema et al. (2007, 2010, Kalita et al., 2021a, 2021b\u003c/em\u003e). Same is described through a method to compare the contrasts in two HRSC stereo images. In case of MCC we derive the AOD values, following the same method (\u003cem\u003eKalita et al., 2021a, 2021b\u003c/em\u003e)\u003cdiv id=\"Equ2\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ2\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:\\tau\\:=\\left[\\frac{\\mu\\:1\\mu\\:2}{\\mu\\:1-\\mu\\:2}\\right]log\\left\\{\\frac{\\left[contrast\\left(I1\\right)/\\left(I1\\right)\\right]}{\\left[\\frac{contrast\\left(I2\\right)}{\\left(I2\\right)}\\right]}\\right\\}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e3\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, and are the mean image intensity over the analyzed region. The quantities and are used here to force S\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e and S\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e into having the same average intensity. To determine the scale height of AOD, we further performed an exponential fit on the AOD data. The nature of air mixing and dust redistribution is obtained by comparing the heights of the AOD and pressure scales. We are encouraged to look into and confirm the results using the most trustworthy MCS data because of the mixing's type (strong or mild). For that reason, we used MCS data to determine the CBL height.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eLeopestro et al. (2011)\u003c/em\u003e described how to use the Stefan\u0026ndash;Boltzmann formula to determine the planetary temperature based on the planet's albedo value. The similar approach was used in our current study to determine the local temperature of the observed region (Kalita et al., 2021b).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInitially, we compute the opacity scaled by density obtained from the extinction of MCS dust and water ice extinction data. We used the data to estimate the mixing ratio of dust particle, then using the Mie theory; we calculated the effective radius of the particle as follows,\u003cdiv id=\"Equ3\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ3\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:mixing\\:ratio\\left({q}_{d}\\right)=\\frac{4{\\rho\\:}_{d}(\\:{d}_{z}\\tau\\:{\\:)\\:r}_{eff}}{3{Q}_{ext}\\rho\\:}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e4\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlso, the effective radius of water ice particle as,\u003cdiv id=\"Equ4\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ4\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:mixing\\:ratio\\left({q}_{I}\\right)=\\frac{4{\\rho\\:}_{I}(\\:{d}_{z}\\tau\\:{\\:)\\:r}_{eff}}{3{Q}_{ext}\\rho\\:}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e5\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe value of \u0026lsquo;Qext\u0026rsquo; is 0.78 for water ice particle, and 0.350 in the case of a dust particle can be obtained from the Mie theory described by (Kleinb\u0026ouml;hl et al., 2009). Density ρ is obtained from MCS data using the ideal gas equation\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{.\\:{\\rho\\:}}_{\\text{I}}\\:\\text{a}\\text{n}\\text{d}\\:{{\\rho\\:}}_{\\text{d}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e are the retrieved densities that have the value of 900 kg m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e and 3000 kg m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e respectively. The calculated effective radius of the particles varies from 1.40 to 3.2 \u0026micro;m. Further, we plot the static stability value (S) as a function of altitude. Observed S value should be in between 1 and 2 with corresponding height that helps us to estimate the CBL.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCBL height is difficult to calculate accurately. We consider the S value 1.5 to determine the CBL height. CBL height through occultation method is given by,\u003cdiv id=\"Equ5\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ5\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:S=\\frac{dT}{dZ}+\\frac{g}{{c}_{p}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e6\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere g is the acceleration due to gravity \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\frac{dT}{dZ}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is the temperature gradient, and the Cp is the specific heat at constant pressure. Further, we subtracted the elevation of the area from occultation height to get the actual value of CBL.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Observational Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eA few small and regional scale dust storms were seen across the eastern and southeast regions of the Kasei Valles (centered at 32\u0026deg;N/59\u0026deg;W) between October 11, 2014, and March 13, 2018 (Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e), according to MCC true color pictures and the MARCI daily global map. Thick water-ice clouds above the Kasei Valles are visible throughout the non-dust storm season (13/11/2015, 5/12/2015.....all six occurrences shown in the lower panel of Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). According to earlier research, water ice clouds typically form above the tropical belt\u0026apos;s highlands and volcanoes. The same has been demonstrated and examined in our most recent study. Martian westerlies are important in propelling the cloud layer over the Kasei Valles when dust storm season ends. Additionally, Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows light evening haze over the valley on 13 November and 5 December 2015. We analyzed data based on the reflectance at top of the atmosphere. Based on red, blue and green channel TOA we categorized the elements present in the observed phenomena. To display maximum reflectivity in the green channel, components resembling carbon are employed. Since the TOA reflectance has a maximum value near the green channel, it may be determined via TOA reflectance that the haze is comprised of carbon-like elements. The scientific community has been studying carbon-containing fog hazy for a long time (G. Strazzulla et al., 1995). During a dust storm on a local and regional scale, the MCC image reflectance values for the red channel are expected to be around 0.09 for \u0026alpha;\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;1. We estimated the r\u003csub\u003eeff\u003c/sub\u003e of fine mode particles to vary from ~\u0026thinsp;200 nm to 300 nm, based on the dust mixing ratio data derived from the MCD web interface database. During the non-dust storm season in 2015, 2017, and 2018, cloud stacks appeared that contain coarse mode particles (\u0026alpha;\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;1) having effective radius varying from ~\u0026thinsp;1000 nm to 3000 nm. \u0026alpha; value is varying from 1.5 to 2.2 for fine mode and 0.6 to 0.8 for coarse mode particle.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFurther, the albedo values during the dust storm over the Kasei Valles obtained using the TOA reflectance data are found to vary from 0.4 to 0.6 for dust aerosols and 0.5 to 0.8 for water ice particles. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e illustrates the derived albedo color map for the MCC captured images. Estimated temperature ranges from 200K to 240 K during dust storm season and 180 K to 200 K during non-dust storm season. We verified the temperature value with MCD-GCM and MCS observational data. Analysis of MCC image data provides an estimation of the required parameters within ~\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2% error. The present work consulted other databases, i.e., MCS onboard MRO and Mars Climate Database (MCD) based Global Circulation Model (GCM), to estimate the error.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn order to support our conclusion, we also looked at MARCI\u0026apos;s daily weather report. A localized dust storm and its impact on the observed region, such as some dust-lifting in Hellas, Noachis, and Argyre, were recorded by MARCI. But by the end of October 2014, the activity in those locations had mostly decreased. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows the dust storm as it subsided on October 28, 2014, as reported by MCC. Local storms occurred in south-central Arabia as storms moved southward along the Acidalia storm track (AST). The transportation and settling of suspended dust haze, which was picked up on October 21, 2014, as well as strong storm activity, defined the observation timeframe. Our hypothesis on the influence of AST over the Valles is confirmed by MARCI. Over the eastern portion of Kasei Valles, the first storm weakened, which we may observe through MCC also, and the second storm declined over the southern part of Lunae Plenum and Kasei Valles. Dust moves in an intricate way as a result of the deep convection process, which combines advective and convective movements. Large-scale electric fields are known to result from the turbocharging and altitude distribution of aerosol particle sizes during Martian dust storms (Melnik \u0026amp; Parrot, 1998). A dust storm of local magnitude was seen in December 2014, moving southward toward Gale Crater from western Elysium.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, we have studied the daily variation of the AOD and Albedo during December 12, 2015, where we found a minimum AOD and Albedo value during daytime with a temperature of 200K. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e shows the albedo color map in relation to Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFigure\u003c/em\u003e 4(a) shows the derived MCC temperature data. Temperature data has been verified with MCS observational data (\u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e 4(b)). Before that, we have verified our albedo values within 2% with the SWIR albedo map in Singh et al., 2014. Comparison with MCS observational data confirmed our estimation of Temperature within 10 K.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFurther, we estimated the scale height of AOD to be ~\u0026thinsp;8.7 km over the longitude ranges from 50\u0026deg; W to 70\u0026deg;W (eastern side of the Kasei Valles) during a local dust storm traveling through AST (40\u0026deg; N). AOD values vary from 1.5 to 2.3 for the observed event December 2015, which coincides with the pressure scale height, indicating a homogeneous mixture of air and airborne dust over a longitudinal range from \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;40\u0026deg; E to -70\u0026deg;E (eastern and western sides Kasei Valles) during Dec 2015. The dust haze appeared over the valley due to a local storm over Elysium tracking southward towards Gale Crater (3.0\u0026deg;N 154.7\u0026deg;E). During the non- Dust storm season, a stereo image method was applied on the MCC images taken during 5 March 2018 and found that the scale height of AOD varies from 5 km to 7 km indicating the presence of a non-homogeneous mixture of air over the Valles. The word \u0026quot;strong-mixing\u0026quot; implies the homogeneous while \u0026quot;weak-mixing\u0026quot; implies the heterogeneous air and airborne dust mixing, which is further explained using CBL height calculation. The strength of the mixing process is estimated using CBL height. In the present work, we consider a transact along 24⁰ N to see the variation of AOD with the height profile. In Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e, we may see how AOD is varying with surface altitude. To estimate the surface irregularities, we consulted MOLA-DEM (digital elevation map), that gives a minimum AOD value at -1.5 km and a maximum at ~\u0026thinsp;1 km from the mean surface level.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFurther, we fitted the AOD values along with the estimated height to calculate the scale height of AOD, as shown in Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e. The fitted data took an exponential pattern, where a change in the AOD by a factor \u0026ldquo;e\u0026rdquo; (exponent) gives the scale height.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have considered three transacts to see the effect of the dust storm over Kasey Valles. We found that accretion of the aerosol finally deposits at the beneath of the valle. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e clearly shows that at the dip portion of the valle\u0026rsquo;s walls are accompanied with high AOD. Further, we compare our estimated scale height of AOD with the pressure scale height using MCD-GCM. The presence of a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust motivates us to investigate the CBL height using MCS data. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e illustrates the opacity profile during the 2014 local dust storm. Dust mixing ratio over the observed area is estimated to be 1.3x10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e m\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e to 0.8x10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e m\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. We may see increased dust opacity from 11 Oct to 28 Oct 2014 due to the enhancement in vertical mixing initiated by the local dust storm (\u003cem\u003eBasu et al., 2008; Fisher et al., 2005\u003c/em\u003e). After the clearance of the dust storm on 28 Oct 2014, we may see an increment in dust extinction value hence an increment in dust opacity. This high dust extinction value is attributed to the weak vertical mixing of the surface-lifted dust over the observed region (\u003cem\u003eSpiga et al., 2017\u003c/em\u003e). In Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e, we may see an uneven distribution of dust over Lunae planum at the starting phase of the dust storm. Water ice opacity is less compared to dust opacity during the 2014 local dust storm period. The uncertainty in extinction usually varies from 10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;5\u003c/sup\u003e and 10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;6\u003c/sup\u003e km\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e for MRO dust observational data (\u003cem\u003eBenson et al., 2010\u003c/em\u003e), whereas the uncertainty in the altitude data varies as \u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1 km (\u003cem\u003eHeavens et al., 2011\u003c/em\u003e). In the present work, water ice opacity during a non-dust storm season (2015, 2017, and 2018) varies from 1x10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e km\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e to 3x10\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e km\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. Further, we used the calculated opacity value to estimate the averaged water ice mixing ratio and hence calculated the effective radius of the water ice particle.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn order to examine the mixing pattern over the impact site, we plotted the convective boundary layer (CBL) height. The seasonal distributions determined by MCC using the date of picture acquisition. The whole temporal fluctuation of the CBL height was separated into two seasons: the dust storm season and the non-dust storm season. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e shows the temporal change in the CBL\u0026apos;s height. We can forecast the kind of air and airborne dust mixing below and above CBL based on the height of CBL. We also provided the height of the haze that occurs over the Kasei Valles since we showed the opacity profile as a function of altitude in Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e. When there is a dust storm, the dust can reach an altitude of 30 to 80 km whereas during a non-dust storm season height of the water ice varies from 20 to 45 km.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLoaded dust contributes to the intense vertical mixing in the upper atmosphere by absorbing solar energy and radiatively heating the surrounding environment, which in turn promotes deep convective activity. Reduced dust opacity is a sign of strong upper atmosphere mixing via CBL and vice versa. CBL height is higher during a dust storm, allowing for vigorous mixing into the upper atmosphere.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver Aonia, a dust cloud was created by localized dust lifting episodes near the seasonal south polar ice cover. There was comparatively less dust storm activity in 2015 and 2017. Another wave of dust lifting activity occurred northwest of Argyre and stretched into Valles Marineris as the south polar hood continued to grow. In mid-December, a dust storm with localized effects was seen above Cimmeria. Diffuse afternoon water-ice clouds continued to hover over regions of great topographic relief further north in the equatorial latitudes. Dust haze and water-ice clouds were seen at the seasonal north polar ice cap\u0026apos;s border on the northern plains. According to this weather report, the Hadley circulation mechanism is responsible for the mid-latitude crossing dust activity and the water ice cloud appearance above Kasei Valles. The worldwide situation as reported by the MARCI daily weather report is shown in Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e. Over the Kasei Valles, we limited our presentation of the MARCI daily weather report to the scenario of local and global dust storms.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eDeep convective activities are important during Mars\u0026apos; dust storm season because they raise the surface temperature, which in turn causes the atmospheric boundary layer to rise and expand, as we have shown by analyzing the available data for MY 32 to 34 for the observed location. On October 11, 2014, a local scale dust storm developed at the northwest side of Kasei Valles; that specific dust storm has also been reported in Guha et al. (2018). The northeastern part also experienced a small dust event, which MCC has captured as reported in previous literature (Arya et al., 2017). We considered both the dust events for our present analysis. During evening time, the surface becomes cooler by 10K and causes a decrease in the CBL hence redistribution causing more albedo over the Valles. In the later section of the manuscript, we explained the phenomenon regarding the variation of CBL height. Deposition of the aerosol and water ice particle increases the albedo value and hence reflects back the incoming solar radiation. We used the TOA reflectance and incoming solar radiation value to calculate the albedo value for the observed region.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDust storms of all scale contribute to the increment of the AOD and hence affect atmospheric circulation. During the observed dust events, MCC albedo and temperature map helps to predict the local atmospheric circulation over Kasei Valles.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn 11 Oct 2014, MCC shows the starting phase of the dust storm on the north side of Kasei Valles covering Lunae plenum (31.06N/63.45W) at an elevation level of -856 m from the mean surface level. On 21 Oct 2014, the storm reached the entire phase and caused dustiness in the atmosphere. After that, it was diminishing over time. Due to all regional and local dust storms during the mentioned period, MCC captured a hazy atmosphere at the end of 2014. The dust and haze were distributed all over the area near Kasei Valles (24.06N/65.45W) and Louros Valles (8.07S/81.32W) at an elevation of 3232 m from the mean surface level. The dust feature on the southeastern side of Kasei Valles, as we mentioned earlier, indicates an encounter of dust mass with high-speed wind. Also, it suggests the probability of dust storm contribution from the extreme eastern part of the Valles Marineris. Dust events over Hales region firmly contribute to the observed haze event at the east part of the Kasei Valles during December 2014. Our present work also reported the atmosphere of Kasei Valles during the non-dust storm season. However, thick water-ice clouds and dust haze used to appear during the non-dust storm seasons. \u0026nbsp;We consulted GCM-MCD to understand the wind flow over the eastern part of the Kasei Valles. \u0026nbsp; A horizontal wind speed value of 107 m/s and vertically downward wind speed of 1m/s confirms the wind encounter with dust haze during the observed event. In 2015, a small amount of dust haze and tropical cloud appeared on the southwestern part of the Lunae planum. These are mainly tropical cloud usually appear during Martian Autumn season.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring September 2016, Mars experienced so many regional dust storms, and they contributed to the appearance of dust haze over Kasei Valles. In 2017, we may observe a hazy atmosphere over Kasei Valles, and in March 2018, MCC captured a thick cloud coverage over Lunae planum and Kasei Valles. \u0026nbsp;Those clouds are seasonal and usually appear over the tropical belt. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe calculated average temperature value is 190 K over the observed area. Since the estimated temperature is based on the top of the atmosphere reflectance value, it constrains the prediction of haze height from the mean surface. MCS temperature plot is prepared as a function of altitude to estimate the altitude and verify our MCC result. MCS data shows a height range from 20 km to 40 km indicates the dust injection to Mars\u0026rsquo;s mesosphere. During a dust storm season, the estimated temperature is 200 to 240 K,\u0026nbsp;indicating\u0026nbsp;a good condition for deep convective activity.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, we reported a diurnal variation of albedo on 5 December 2015 over Kasei Valles based on the available data.\u0026nbsp;We\u0026nbsp;find the atmosphere to be opaquer over Kasei Valles\u0026nbsp;during the daytime\u0026nbsp;due to the deposition and suspension of dust aerosols. During night time the albedo value decreases,\u0026nbsp;indicating the presence of fewer aerosols in the atmosphere. Diurnal variation of albedo is found to be 0.1 to 0.2 in a time gap of 6 hours. Almost 15% increment in the albedo values during daytime suggested activity of dust event. An increment of 10 K is attributed to the deep convective activity near Kasei Valles.\u0026nbsp;The estimated value of scale height of AOD varies from 7.5 to 10 km. In contrast, pressure scale height varies from 8 to 10 km, indicates a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust over the observed area during a dust storm season. The nature of the mixture of air and air-born dust motivates us to investigate the CBL height estimated based on the MCS data. Intense mixing implies homogeneous, and weak mixing implies a heterogeneous mixture of air and air-born particles. CBL height is the parameter that may verify our MCC results, whether cloud or a dust haze over Kasei Valles. \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Also, we consider a particular case of the 2018 global dust storm to see the dust extinction. In March 2018, we observed a thick water ice cloud over the Kasei Valles. We may see the maximum contribution of dust storm effect over the southern tropics and sub-tropics and is due to merging of the advected thick dust haze towards the southern hemisphere from the Acidalia region, primarily influenced by the prevailing wind with the dust lifting activity over the Hellas region (MARCI weather report). \u003cem\u003eClancy et al. (2010)\u003c/em\u003e suggested lifted dust above 60 km altitude during the 2001 global dust storm using TES observations. Our present analysis reported the dust altitude as 45 to 50 Km during the 2018 global dust storm. \u0026nbsp;The temperature varies from 200 to 240 K at the height of 45 to 50 km during the global dust event. This high temperature possibly creates enough convection to strengthen the dust storm (Michaels and Rafkin, 2004; Rafkin, 2009; Spiga et al., 2010). The dust storm migrated from the Acidalia region to Kasei Valles. Increased dust loading can warm the air to expand the atmosphere. This high temperature of 220 K at the altitude of 60 to 80 km is almost 40 K more elevated than the mean value, possibly creates enough convection to strengthen the dust storm (\u003cem\u003eMichaels and Rafkin, 2004; Rafkin, 2009; Spiga et al., 2010\u003c/em\u003e). This large-scale dust storm we may see in \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e 10 migrated from extreme eastern longitude. In 2014 at the height of 60 km, we estimated the temperature to be 170 K, whereas, in 2018, we found it to be 220K. An increment of 50 K strengthens the intense dust storm to cover the whole planet and raise the HATDM layer at LS = 195\u0026deg;. \u0026nbsp;We also estimate the scenario for post dust global dust storms based on MRO-MCS data. Post-global dust storm accompanied increased CBL height, increased temperature, and intense vertical mixing of air and air-born dust. In \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e 10, during 2018 GDS,\u0026nbsp;we may also observe a negative correlation between dust extinction and temperature data along the planetary latitude, further\u0026nbsp;explaining\u0026nbsp;the complete CBL phenomenology.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMars daily global maps from MRO/MARCI captured images of Mars daily, from a (3 AM\u0026ndash;3 PM) sun-synchronous orbit for monitoring the occurrence of dust storm events or clouds over the polar caps or surface ice deposits. (\u003cem\u003eMalin et al., 2001; Bell et al., 2009; Cantor et al., 2010\u003c/em\u003e).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the 2018 global dust storm, the CBL height varies from ~7 to ~8 km. Post dust storm CBL height ranges from 10 to 12 km, indicating an intense mixing of air and air-born dust due to the expansion of the Martian atmosphere after the dust storm. On July 01, 2018, CBL height reached 10.7 km, confirming CBL height after the dust storm. The expansion occurs due to a hike in the temperature. If we consider seasonal variation, then CBL height is slightly less than the scenario presented for 2018. Excessive deposition of dust warms the atmosphere, and hence CBL height increases accordingly. We don\u0026rsquo;t have MCC data during the 2018 global dust storm. So, we only analyzed the MRO data during the 2018 global dust storm to see the atmospheric effect. The southwestern side of Kasei Valles experienced a homogeneous mixture of air and air-born dust over longitude 29\u0026deg; to 39\u0026deg; (eastern side of Lunae plenum), indicating the similarities between scale height of AOD and pressure scale height during October 2018. Using albedo values, we calculated the approximate temperature. Our reported temperature value varies from 200 to 240 K.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring 2016 CBL height varied from 5.6 km to 7.2 Km. Our present study also discusses the vertical mixing initiated after a dust storm for our observed area. \u0026nbsp;We plotted the convective boundary layer (CBL) height to analyze the mixing over the impact location in the \u003cem\u003efigure\u003c/em\u003e. We may see a moderate CBL height during the solar-longitude 200\u0026deg; to 209\u0026deg;. The dust storm tremendously causes the vertical lifting of aerosols.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn MARCI daily weather report, a massive dust storm has been reported over the Hellas region crossing the tropical belt during 2018 (https://www.msss.com/msss_images/latest_weather.html). MARCI observed the most prominent regional dust storms over the northern hemisphere of Mars. The large arcuate-shaped dust storm, reported by MARCI, propagated eastward over the mid-latitudes of the north of Utopia Planitia before abating. By the end of the season, the storm stretched from Solis in the west to Cimmeria in the east, encompassing more than 30-mile square kilometers. Condensate water-ice clouds, typically observed above the significant shield volcanoes of Tharsis, were absent during the second half of the week due to warmer atmospheric conditions caused by the storm. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"6. Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe present study focuses on the air conditions above the Kasei Valles, the biggest valles on Mars. The Valles had nearly every type of dust storm between 2014 and 2018, ranging from local/regional to worldwide in scope. The incoming sun energy has been obstructed because of the dust storms' additional contribution to the high dust loading across the measured area. In the end, it aids in the temperature variation in the region in question. The scale height of AOD was accurately determined by MCC image reflectance to be between 8 and 10 kilometers above. The computed scale height further controls the Hadley circulation processes over the Valles and is beneficial to the deep convection activity. The atmosphere's thermal expansion facilitates the air's and airborne dust's intense mixing below. CBL and creates dustiness over the Kasei Valles. During a dust storm season, Mars Climate Sounder data indicates a high dust opacity of around 3x10-3 km-1, with dust height reaching the mesospheric level. Fine mode aerosols, which have an effective radius of around 300 nm, are present in the atmosphere and have uniformly mixed with it below 10 km of CBL height. Additionally, the study demonstrates that Kasei Valles are significantly impacted by the Acidalia Storm Track during the dust storm season. Aerosols above the Valles have been redistributed due to strong meridian winds in conjunction with AST. The whole circulation process above Kasei Valles is explained by the Hadley circulation mechanism, which also accounts for the strong wind flow in subtropical highs and westerlies. The albedo value rises up to 0.8 when dense clouds of water ice (Re\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;3000 nm) develop.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eFurther scope of research\u003c/b\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing from the findings of the recent studies conducted by Duran et al. (2020), Voosen et al. (2020), Stone et al. (2020), as well as our own analysis, we have directed future research efforts to investigate the remarkable influence of the AST circulation pattern on Mars' greatest liquid flow channel. A model comprising four phases of water activity was put out by earlier mapping investigations to explain the erosion and development of Kasei Valles (Chapman et al., 2010 and Dundas et al., 2019). Water eventually left the Martian atmosphere due to a frequent series of dust storms that carried it into the ionosphere and exposed it to ultraviolet radiation. We require additional pertinent data to support our hypothesis. There aren't many studies yet that demonstrate how important local and worldwide dust storms are to water escape. Thus, we may investigate how this small but effective dust storm may affect the Martian atmosphere.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eArya, A. S., Sarkar, S. S., Srinivas, A. R., Manthira Moorthi, S., Patel, V. D., Singh, R. B. 2015. Mars Colour Camera: the payload characterization/calibration and data analysis from Earth imaging phase. Current Science. 109(06), 1076\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e086.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eBenson, J. L., D. M. Kass, A. Kleinb\u0026ouml;hl, D. J. McCleese, J. T. Schofield, and F. W. Taylor. 2010. Mars‟ south polar hood as observed by the Mars Climate Sounder. J. Geophys.Res., doi:10.1029/2009JE003554.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eCantor, B. A. 2007. MOC observations of 2001 planet encircling dust storm. Icarus, 186, 60-96.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eClancy, R. T. et al. 2000. An intercomparison of ground‐ based millimeter, MGS TES, and Viking atmospheric temperature measurements: Seasonal and interannual variability of temperatures and dust loading in the global Mars atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 105(E4), 9553\u0026ndash;9571.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eClarke, J. T. 2018. Dust-enhanced water escape. Nature Astronomy, 2(2), 114\u0026ndash;115. doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0383-6\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eClarke, J. T., Mayyasi, M., Bhattacharyya, D., Schneider, N. M., McClintock, W. E., Deighan, J. I., Jakosky, B. M. 2017. Variability of D and H in the Martian upper atmosphere observed with the MAVEN IUVS echelle channel. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. doi:10.1002/2016ja023479\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eClarke, J.T., Bertaux, J.-L., Chaufray, J.-Y., Gladstone, G.R., Quemerais, E., Wilson, J.K., Bhattacharyya, D. 2014. A rapid decrease of the hydrogen corona of Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 8013\u0026ndash;8020. doi:10.1002/2014GL061803.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDundas, Colin M.; Cushing, Glen E.; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P. 2019. The flood lavas of Kasei Valles, Mars. Icarus, 321(), 346\u0026ndash;357. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.008\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDuran, S., Coulthard, T.J. The Kasei Valles, Mars: a unified record of episodic channel flows and ancient ocean levels. Sci Rep 10, 18571 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75080-y\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eFisher, J. A., M. I. Richardson, C. E. Newman, et al. 2005. A survey of Martian dust devil activity Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbital Camera images. Journal of geophysical research, 110, E03004, doi:10.1029/2003JE002165.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eForget, F., F. Hourdin, R. Fournier, C. Hourdin, O. Talagrand, M. Collins, S. R. Lewis, P. L. Read, and J. P. Huot.1999. Improved general circulation models of the Martian atmosphere from the surface to above 80 km. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 24,155\u0026ndash; 24,176.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eG. Strazzulla; J.R. Brucato; G. Cimino; M.E. Palumbo (1996). Carbonic acid on Mars?. , 44(11), 1447\u0026ndash;1450. doi:10.1016/s0032-0633(96)00079-7\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGierasch, P.J. and R.M. Goody. 1973. A Model of a Martian Great Dust Storm. J. Atmos. Sci., 30, 169\u0026ndash;179.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGolitsyn, G. S. 1973. On the Martian dust storms. Icarus, 18, 113\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e19.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGuha, B. K., Panda, J., \u0026amp; Chauhan, P. 2018. Analysing some Martian atmospheric characteristics associated with a dust storm over the Lunae Planum region during October 2014. Icarus. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.09.018\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGuzewich, S.D. et al., 2015. Mars Orbiter Camera climatology of textured dust storms. Icarus 258, 1\u0026ndash;13, doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2015.06.023.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGuzewich, S.D. et al., 2017. An investigation of dust storms observed with the Mars Color Imager. Icarus, 289, 199\u0026ndash;213, doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.02.020.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHABERLE, R. M. 1986. Interannual Variability of Global Dust Storms on Mars. Science, 234(4775), 459\u0026ndash;461. doi:10.1126/science.234.4775.459\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHeavens, N. \u0026amp; Kass, David \u0026amp; Shirley, James \u0026amp; Piqueux, Sylvain \u0026amp; Cantor, Bruce. (2019). An Observational Overview of Dusty Deep Convection in Martian Dust Storms. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 76. 10.1175/JAS-D-19-0042.1.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHeavens, N. G. 2011. The vertical distribution of dust in the Martian atmosphere during northern spring and summer: Observations by the Mars Climate Sounder and analysis of zonal average vertical dust profiles. J. Geophys. Res., 116, E04003, doi:10.1029/2010JE003691.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHeavens, N. G., Kleinb\u0026ouml;hl, A., Chaffin, M. S., Halekas, J. S., Kass, D. M., Hayne, P. O., Schofield, J. T. 2018. Hydrogen escape from Mars enhanced by deep convection in dust storms. Nature Astronomy, 2(2), 126\u0026ndash;132. doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0353-4\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHoekzema, N.M. 2007. The scale-height of dust around Pavonis Mons from HRSC stereo images. In: Seventh International Conference on Mars, LPI Contributions No. 1353, p. 3154.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eHoekzema, N.M. 2010. Optical depth and its scale-height in Valles Marineris from HRSC stereo images. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 294, 534\u0026ndash;540. http://dx.doi.org/10.18520/cs/v109/i6/1076\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e086\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eKleinb\u0026ouml;hl, A. 2009. Mars Climate Sounder limb profile retrieval of atmospheric temperature, pressure, dust, and water ice opacity, J. Geophys. Res., 114, E10006, doi:10.1029/2009JE003358.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eLoPresto, Michael C.; Hagoort, Nichole (2011). Determining Planetary Temperatures with the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. The Physics Teacher, 49(2), 113\u0026ndash;. doi:10.1119/1.3543589\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMartin, L. J., and R. W. Zurek. 1993. An analysis of the history of dust activity on Mars. J. Geophys. Res., 98(E2), 3221\u0026ndash;3246.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMartin, T.Z., M. I. Richardson. 1993. New dust opacity mapping from Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper data. J. Geophys. Res., 98, 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/93JE01044.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMary G. Chapman; Gerhard Neukum; Alexander Dumke; Greg Michael; Stephan van Gasselt; Thomas Kneissl; Wilhelm Zuschneid; Ernst Hauber; Nicolas Mangold. 2010. Amazonian geologic history of the Echus Chasma and Kasei Valles system on Mars: New data and interpretations. 294(3-4), 0\u0026ndash;255. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.11.034\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMcCleese, D. J. 2007. Mars Climate Sounder: An investigation of thermal and wate vapor structure, dust and condensate distributions in the atmosphere, and energy balance of the polar regions, J. Geophys. Res., 112, E05S06, doi:10.1029/2006JE002790.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMelnik, O., \u0026amp; Parrot, M. 1998. Electrostatic discharge in Martian dust storms. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103(A12), 29,107\u0026ndash;29,117. https://doi.org/10.1029/98JA01954\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMichaels, T. I., and S. C. R. Rafkin. 2004. Large eddy simulation of atmospheric convection on Mars. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 130, 1251\u0026ndash; 1274, doi:10.1256/qj.02.169.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMishra, M. K., P. Chauhan, R. Singh, S. M. Moorthi, and S. S. Sarkar. 2016. Estimation of dust variability and scale height of Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD) in the Valles Marineris on Mars by Indian Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) data. Icarus, 265, 84-94.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eRafkin, S. C. R. 2009. A positive radiative-dynamic feedback mechanism for the maintenance and growth of Martian dust storms. J. Geophys. Res., 114, E01009, doi:10.1029/2008JE003217.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eShane W. Stone et al. 2020. Hydrogen escape from Mars is driven by seasonal and dust storm transport of water. Science 370 (6518): 824-831; doi: 10.1126/science.aba5229\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eSmith, M.D. 2002. The annual cycle of water vapor on Mars as observed by the thermal emission spectrometer. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 5115, doi.org/10.1029/2001JE001522.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eSpiga, A., F. Forget, S. R. Lewis, and D. Hinson. 2010. Structure and dynamics of the convective boundary layer on Mars as inferred from large-eddy simulations and remote sensing measurements. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 136: 414\u0026ndash;428. DOI:10.1002/qj.563.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eStrausberg, M. J., H. Wang, M. I. Richardson, S. Ewald, A. D. Toigo. 2005. Observations of the initiation and evolution of the 2001 Mars global dust storm. J. Geophys. Res., 110 (E2).\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eVoosen, Paul. 2020. Dust storms on Mars propel water\u0026apos;s escape to space. Science, 370(6518), 755\u0026ndash;755. doi:10.1126/science.370.6518.755\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWang, H. 2007. Dust storms originating in the northern hemisphere during the third mapping year of Mars Global Surveyor. Icarus, 189, 325\u0026ndash;343, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.01.014.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWang, H., M. I. Richardson, R. J. Wilson, A. P. Ingersoll, and R. W. Zurek. 2003. Cyclones, Tides, and the Origin of Significant Dust Storms on Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 9, 1488. Doi:10.1029/2002GL016828.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWang, J.‐S., \u0026amp; Nielsen, E. 2003. Behavior of the Martian dayside electron density peak during global dust storms. Planetary and Space Science, 51(4‐5), 329\u0026ndash;338. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0032‐0633(03)00015‐1\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWilliams, R. M., Phillips, R. J., \u0026amp; Malin, M. C. 2000. Flow rates and duration within Kasei Valles, Mars: Implications for the formation of a Martian Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(7), 1073\u0026ndash;1076. doi:10.1029/1999gl010957\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Dibrugarh University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"AST, CBL, Scale height of AOD, Atmospheric Circulation.","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eImages from Mars Color Camera (MCC) onboard India\u0026rsquo;s first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) during Martian years 33 and 34 provides the evidence of dense haze, water ice cloud, and all scale dust storms over Kasei Valles. The clouds and haze contained both fine mode and coarse mode particles with effective radius of 0.3 to 2.8 microns, further contributing to the variation of Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD). This variation temporally perturbs the atmospheric circulation process over the Valles. The Atmospheric Optical Depth (AOD) varies from ~\u0026thinsp;1.2 to ~\u0026thinsp;2.3, with a varying scale height optical depth of ~\u0026thinsp;6 to ~\u0026thinsp;10 km. Estimated temperature varies from 180K\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;10K up to 240 K\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;15K, creates a favorable condition for deep convection activity. A very high wind speed of ~\u0026thinsp;70 to ~\u0026thinsp;100 m/s is conducive for redistributing the aerosols over the Kasei Valles. This is further evidenced by the variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) height. CBL height varies from ~\u0026thinsp;3km to ~\u0026thinsp;9km in the temporal range of Ls\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;50\u0026deg; to Ls\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;280\u0026deg;. During the non-dust storm season (Ls\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;50\u0026deg; to Ls\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;100\u0026deg;.), adiabatic perturbation and downward enhanced precipitation contribute to the appearance of water ice haze over the valley. We also reported the presence of carbon like elements in the fog/morning haze based on the analysis of green spectral channel with varying AOD from 1.8 to 2.3. Acidalia Storm Track (AST) puts significant input in the dust variability process over Kasei Valles at (24.6\u0026deg;N/ 65.0\u0026deg;W) during the observed period.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Estimation of Atmospheric Haze Variability and Seasonal Variation of Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) Height Over Kasei Valles of Mars","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-11-25 15:24:26","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5480100/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"37f49302-fe2e-4cdc-8c4c-139b8ba7c87f","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 25th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":40441818,"name":"Planetary Science"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-11-25T15:24:26+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-11-25 15:24:26","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5480100","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5480100","identity":"rs-5480100","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}