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Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has many lakes on its surface, formed mainly of liquid methane. Like water lakes on Earth, these methane lakes on Titan likely profoundly affect the local climate. Previous studies (Rafkin and Soto 2020, Chatain et al 2022) showed that Titan's lakes create lake breeze circulations with characteristic dimensions similar to the ones observed on Earth. However, such studies used a model in two dimensions; this work investigates the consequences of the addition of a third dimension to the model. Our results show that 2D simulations tend to overestimate the extension of the lake breeze over the land, and underestimate the strength of the subsidence over the lake, due to divergence/convergence geometrical effects in the mass conservation equations. In addition, 3D simulations including a large scale background wind show the formation of a pocket of accelerated wind behind the lake, which did not form in 2D simulations. An investigation of the effect of shoreline concavity on the resulting air circulation shows the formation of wind currents over peninsulas. Simulations with several lakes can either result in the formation of several individual lake breeze cells (during the day), or the emergence of a large merged cell with internal wind currents between lakes (during the night). Simulations of several real-shaped lakes located at a latitude of 74{\deg}N on Titan at the autumn equinox show that larger lakes trigger stronger winds, and that some sections of lakes might accumulate enough methane vapor to form a thin fog. The addition of a third dimension, along with adjustments in the parametrizations of turbulence and subsurface land temperature, results in a reduction in the magnitude of the average lake evaporate rate, namely to ~6 cm/Earth year., Comment: Published online in Icarus on 2023-12-17. Dataset available at the DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8172271

This work applies a quantitative metric well-known to the data assimilation community to a new context in order to capture the relative representativeness of non-simultaneous or non-co-located observations and quantify how these observations decorrelate in both space and time. This methodology allows for the effective determination of thresholding decisions for representative matchup conditions, and is especially useful for informing future network designs and architectures. Future weather and climate satellite missions must consider a range of architectural trades to meet observing requirements. Frequently, fundamental decisions such as the number of observatories, the instruments manifested, and orbit parameters are determined based upon assumptions about the characteristic temporal and spatial scales of variability of the target observation. With the introduced methodology, representativity errors due to separations in space and time can be quantified without prior knowledge of instrument performance, and errors driven by constellation design can be estimated without model ingest or analysis.

Titan's northern high latitudes host many large hydrocarbon lakes. Like water lakes on Earth, Titan's lakes are constantly subject to evaporation. This process strongly affects the atmospheric methane abundance, the atmospheric temperature, the lake mixed layer temperature, and the local wind circulation. In this work we use a 2D atmospheric mesoscale model coupled to a slab lake model to investigate the effect of solar and infrared radiation on the exchange of energy and methane between Titan's lakes and atmosphere. The magnitude of solar radiation reaching the surface of Titan through its thick atmosphere is only a few $Wm^{-2}$. However, we find that this small energy input is important and is comparable in absolute magnitude to the latent and sensible heat fluxes, as suggested in the prior study by Rafkin and Soto (2020). The implementation of a gray radiative scheme in the model confirms the importance of radiation when studying lakes at the surface of Titan. Solar and infrared radiation change the energy balance of the system leading to an enhancement of the methane evaporation rate, an increase of the equilibrium lake temperature almost completely determined by its environment (humidity, insolation, and background wind), and a strengthening of the local sea breeze, which undergoes diurnal variations. The sea breeze efficiently transports methane vapor horizontally, from the lake to the land, and vertically due to rising motion along the sea breeze front and due to radiation-induced turbulence over the land., Comment: Published in The Planetary Science Journal (10/2022). Corresponding data and code available at https://www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7023670

In response to ESA Voyage 2050 announcement of opportunity, we propose an ambitious L-class mission to explore one of the most exciting bodies in the Solar System, Saturn largest moon Titan. Titan, a "world with two oceans", is an organic-rich body with interior-surface-atmosphere interactions that are comparable in complexity to the Earth. Titan is also one of the few places in the Solar System with habitability potential. Titan remarkable nature was only partly revealed by the Cassini-Huygens mission and still holds mysteries requiring a complete exploration using a variety of vehicles and instruments. The proposed mission concept POSEIDON (Titan POlar Scout/orbitEr and In situ lake lander DrONe explorer) would perform joint orbital and in situ investigations of Titan. It is designed to build on and exceed the scope and scientific/technological accomplishments of Cassini-Huygens, exploring Titan in ways that were not previously possible, in particular through full close-up and in situ coverage over long periods of time. In the proposed mission architecture, POSEIDON consists of two major elements: a spacecraft with a large set of instruments that would orbit Titan, preferably in a low-eccentricity polar orbit, and a suite of in situ investigation components, i.e. a lake lander, a "heavy" drone (possibly amphibious) and/or a fleet of mini-drones, dedicated to the exploration of the polar regions. The ideal arrival time at Titan would be slightly before the next northern Spring equinox (2039), as equinoxes are the most active periods to monitor still largely unknown atmospheric and surface seasonal changes. The exploration of Titan northern latitudes with an orbiter and in situ element(s) would be highly complementary with the upcoming NASA New Frontiers Dragonfly mission that will provide in situ exploration of Titan equatorial regions in the mid-2030s., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1908.01374

Titan's abundant lakes and seas exchange methane vapor and energy with the atmosphere via a process generally known as air-sea interaction. This turbulent exchange process is investigated with an atmospheric mesoscale model coupled to a slab model representation of an underlying lake. The impact of lake size, effective lake mixed layer depth, background wind speed, air-lake temperature differential, and atmospheric humidity on air-sea interaction processes is studied through dozens of two-dimensional simulations. The general, quasi-steady solution is a non-linear superposition of a very weak background plume circulation driven by the buoyancy of evaporated methane with a stronger opposing thermally direct (sea breeze) circulation driven by the thermal contrast between the cold marine layer over the lake and the warmer inland air. The specific solution depends on the value of selected atmosphere and lake property parameters, but the general solution of the superposition of these two circulations is persistent. Consistent with previous analytical work of others, the sensible heat flux and the latent heat flux trend toward opposite and equal values such that their ratio, the Bowen ratio, approaches -1.0 in most, but not all, of the quasi-steady state solutions. Importantly, in nearly all scenarios, the absolute magnitude of the fluxes trends toward very small values such that the equilibrium solution is also nearly a trivial solution where air-sea energy exchange is about 3 W m-2 or less. In all cases, a cool, moist, and statically stable shallow marine layer with nearly calm winds and small turbulent flux exchanges with a colder underlying lake is produced by the model. The temperature of the lake, the marine properties of the air, and the strength of the sea breeze depends on the initial conditions and to a lesser degree, the boundary conditions., Comment: 105 papers, 23 figures; in review at Icarus; new version based on comments from reviewers

We present a new database of $>$300 layer-orientations from sedimentary mounds on Mars. These layer orientations, together with draped landslides, and draping of rocks over differentially-eroded paleo-domes, indicate that for the stratigraphically-uppermost $\sim$1 km, the mounds formed by the accretion of draping strata in a mound-shape. The layer-orientation data further suggest that layers lower down in the stratigraphy also formed by the accretion of draping strata in a mound-shape. The data are consistent with terrain-influenced wind erosion, but inconsistent with tilting by flexure, differential compaction over basement, or viscoelastic rebound. We use a simple landscape evolution model to show how the erosion and deposition of mound strata can be modulated by shifts in obliquity. The model is driven by multi-Gyr calculations of Mars' chaotic obliquity and a parameterization of terrain-influenced wind erosion that is derived from mesoscale modeling. Our results suggest that mound-spanning unconformities with kilometers of relief emerge as the result of chaotic obliquity shifts. Our results support the interpretation that Mars' rocks record intermittent liquid-water runoff during a $>$10$^8$-yr interval of sedimentary rock emplacement.

A radiative-dynamic positive feedback mechanism (Wind Enhanced Interaction of Radiation and Dust: WEIRD) for localized Mars dust disturbances was previously found to operate in highly idealized numerical experiments. Numerical simulations are used to test for the presence and quantitative effect of the radiative-dynamic WEIRD feedback mechanism under more realistic conditions. Comparisons between cases where lifted dust is radiatively active and radiatively passive elucidate the importance of the dust radiative forcing on the thermodynamic and kinematic structure of the atmosphere. The WEIRD feedback mechanism does operate under realistic conditions, although it can be masked and diminished by a variety of other forcing mechanisms. Globally increased dust loading is found to accelerate the local winds while simultaneously diminishing the impact of local physiographical forcing. Local enhancements of dust produce a thermal and dynamical response that resembles many of the essential features seen in the idealized experiments. The development of a warm core low, rotational wind tendencies and convergence boundaries intersecting at the center of the strongest dust storms are consistent with WEIRD. Local and regional storms are effective at producing elevated dust layers above the boundary layer aided by the radiative forcing of the dust. Ubiquitous and persistent thermal circulations associated with topography can also inject dust into the free atmosphere above the planetary boundary layer, but they are less efficient than the dust storms. High concentrations of dust in the lowest levels of the atmosphere produce a significant and dramatic heating of the ground and the near-surface air despite greatly reduced insolation at the surface., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures

Channel networks on the plateau adjacent to Juventae Chasma have the highest drainage densities reported on Mars.We model frozen precipitation on the Juventae plateau,finding that the trigger for forming these channel networks could have been ephemeral lakeshore precipitation,and that they do not require past temperatures higher than today.If short-lived and localized events explain some dendritic channel networks on Mars, this would weaken the link between dendritic valley networks and surface climate conditions that could sustain life. Our analysis uses MRAMS simulations and HiRISE DTMs.We model localized weather systems driven by water vapor release from ephemeral lakes during outflow channel formation.At Juventae Chasma,mean snowfall reaches a maximum of 0.9mm/hr water equivalent on the SW rim of the chasm.Radiative effects of the thick cloud cover raise maximum (minimum, mean) plateau surface temperatures by up to 24K(9K, 17K)locally.The key result is that the area of maximum modeled precipitation shows a striking correspondence to the mapped Juventae plateau channel networks.Three independent methods show this fit is unlikely to be due to chance.We use a snowpack energy balance model to show that if the snow has the albedo of dust(0.28), and for a solar luminosity of 0.8($\equiv$3.0Gya), then if the atmospheric greenhouse effect is unchanged from(6K warmer than)today only 0.4%(21%)of lake-induced precipitation events produce snowpack that undergoes melting.However, warming from associated dense cloud cover would allow melting over a wider range of conditions.In these localized precipitation scenarios, global temperatures need not be higher than today, and the rest of the planet remains dry., Comment: Submitted to JGR Planets

Terrestrial dust devils are known to generate electric fields from the vertical separation of charged dust particles. The particles present within the dust devils on Mars may also be subject to similar charging processes and so likely contribute to electric field generation there as well. However, to date, no Marsin situ instrumentation has been deployed to measure electric field strength. In order to explore the electric environment of dust devils on Mars, the triboelectric dust charging physics from the MacroscopicTriboelectric Simulation (MTS) code has been coupled to the Mars Regional Atmospheric ModelingSystem (MRAMS). Using this model, we examine how macroscopic electric fields are generated within martian dust disturbances and attempt to quantify the time evolution of the electrodynamical system.Electric fields peak for several minutes within the dust devil simulations. The magnitude of the electric field is a strong function of the size of the particles present, the average charge on the particles and the number of particles lifted. Varying these parameters results in peak electric fields between tens of millivolts per meter and tens of kilovolts per meter.

For the analysis of radiation risks to astronauts and planning exploratory space missions, detailed knowledge of particle spectra is an important factor. Detailed measurements of the energetic particle radiation environment on the surface of Mars have been made by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector (MSL-RAD) on the Curiosity rover since August 2012, and particle fluxes for a wide range of ion species (up to several hundred MeV/u) and high energy neutrons (8 - 1000 MeV) have been available for the first 200 sols. Although the data obtained on the surface of Mars for 200 sols are limited in the narrow energy spectra, the simulation results using the Badhwar-O'Neill galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment model and the high-charge and energy transport (HZETRN) code are compared to the data. For the nuclear interactions of primary GCR through Mars atmosphere and Curiosity rover, the quantum multiple scattering theory of nuclear fragmentation (QMSFRG) is used, which includes direct knockout, evaporation and nuclear coalescence. Daily atmospheric pressure measurements at Gale Crater by the MSL Rover Environmental Monitoring Station are implemented into transport calculations for describing the daily column depth of atmosphere. Particles impinging on top of the Martian atmosphere reach the RAD after traversing varying depths of atmosphere that depend on the slant angles, and the model accounts for shielding of the RAD by the rest of the instrument. Calculations of stopping particle spectra are in good agreement with the RAD measurements for the first 200 sols by accounting changing heliospheric conditions and atmospheric pressure. Detailed comparisons between model predictions and spectral data of various particle types provide the validation of radiation transport models, and thus increase the accuracy of the predictions of future radiation environments on Mars. These contributions lend support to the understanding of radiation health risks to astronauts for the planning of various mission scenarios.

Detailed measurements of the energetic particle radiation environment on the surface of Mars have been made by the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Curiosity rover since August 2012. RAD is a particle detector that measures the energy spectrum of charged particles (10 to approx. 200 MeV/u) and high energy neutrons (approx 8 to 200 MeV). The data obtained on the surface of Mars for 300 sols are compared to the simulation results using the Badhwar-O'Neill galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment model and the high-charge and energy transport (HZETRN) code. For the nuclear interactions of primary GCR through Mars atmosphere and Curiosity rover, the quantum multiple scattering theory of nuclear fragmentation (QMSFRG) is used. For describing the daily column depth of atmosphere, daily atmospheric pressure measurements at Gale Crater by the MSL Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) are implemented into transport calculations. Particle flux at RAD after traversing varying depths of atmosphere depends on the slant angles, and the model accounts for shielding of the RAD "E" dosimetry detector by the rest of the instrument. Detailed comparisons between model predictions and spectral data of various particle types provide the validation of radiation transport models, and suggest that future radiation environments on Mars can be predicted accurately. These contributions lend support to the understanding of radiation health risks to astronauts for the planning of various mission scenarios

The project sought to develop a coupled GCM-mesoscale model and to assimilate Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data into the coupled model. To achieve the project goals, four specific research activities were proposed. These activities are reiterated for completeness and the progress in each of the activities is noted in future sections of this report.

Inferred wind-related modifications of impact craters are observed in the vicinity of the Mare Pathfinder (MPF) site and in other regions of Mars. Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images show three types of inferred wind-modified morphologies for craters 0.3-1 km in diameter Such modifications could be related to seasonal variations of the strongest winds and a possible paleowind regime. Geomorphic mapping of Big Crater at the MPF shows evidence of former aeolian modification of the crater rim and interiors similar to smaller craters in the area. The morphologic patterns are in good agreement with the results from the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling Simulation (MRAMS) of topographically forced wind circulation and atmosphere surface interactions generated by flow over small craters. Simulations show that the maximum surface stress is on the downwind crater rim, consistent with inferred wind modification of the crater rim seen in MOC images. The trend of the Inferred paleowind regime at the MPF site cannot be explained by a change In the global atmospheric circulation resulting ~ from changes in Mars obliquity. We suggest that this wind regime could be associated with a regional meteorological pattern that is not modeled by global scale circulation, An alternative explanation is that Mars spin axis was in a different geographic position than it is at present.

The core dynamics of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), a widely used and powerful mesoscale Earth model, is adapted to the Martian Atmosphere and applied in the study of aeolian surface features. In particular, research efforts focused on the substitution of Martian planetary and atmospheric properties such as rotation rate, and thermodynamic constants in place of hard-wired Earth properties. Application of the model was restricted to three-dimensional flow impinging upon impact craters, and the search for plausible wind patterns that could produce the so-called light and dark streaks downwind of topographic barriers.