Seasonal and interannual variability of solar radiation at Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity landing sites

  • Álvaro Vicente-Retortillo Departamento de Física de la Tierra, Astronomía y Astrofísica II, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain,
  • Mark T. Lemmon Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA,
  • Germán M. Martínez Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
  • Francisco Valero Departamento de Física de la Tierra, Astronomía y Astrofísica II, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain,
  • Luis Vázquez Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain,
  • Mª Luisa Martín Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad de Valladolid, Segovia, Spain,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_FITE.2016.v28.53900
Keywords: Solar radiation, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory, opacity, dust, radiative transfer model, Mars exploration.

Abstract

In this article we characterize the radiative environment at the landing sites of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions. We use opacity values obtained at the surface from direct imaging of the Sun and our radiative transfer model COMIMART to analyze the seasonal and interannual variability of the daily irradiation at the MER and MSL landing sites. In addition, we analyze the behavior of the direct and diffuse components of the solar radiation at these landing sites.

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Published
2016-10-14
How to Cite
Vicente-Retortillo Á., Lemmon M. T., Martínez G. M., Valero F., Vázquez L. y Martín M. L. (2016). Seasonal and interannual variability of solar radiation at Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity landing sites. Física de la Tierra, 28, 111-127. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_FITE.2016.v28.53900
Issue
Vol. 28 (2016): Mars: A multidisciplinary scientific approach
Section
Articles

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