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Mars Polar Research Opportunities for Applied Physics Graduate Students Attending or Who Plan to Attend Northern Arizona University

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center is looking for graduate students in astronomy and applied physics interested in Mars Polar Science. Prospective candidates must be enrolled or plan to enroll into NAUs Masters Level Applied Physics Graduate Program. For more information about NAU, click on
NAU Physics Graduate Program.

The Mars polar research conducted at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, AZ, includes the use of Mars Global Survey (MGS), Mars Odyssey, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data to better understand Mars polar processes. For more information about Mars polar research, contact Dr. Timothy N. Titus.

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Determining Priorities for Future Mars Polar Research

The seasonal polar caps of Mars consist primarily of CO2 that condenses from the atmosphere to form surface ice at high latitudes following the autumnal equinox in both hemispheres. The seasonal caps are prominent features on Mars that were first viewed by Herschel in 1784. They extend equatorward as far as 40° S in the southern hemisphere and 55° N in the northern hemisphere. Approximately 25% of the Martian atmosphere is cycled annually into and out of the seasonal caps. Consequently, the seasonal CO2 cycle plays an important role in the planet's atmospheric general circulation. Questions about the seasonal caps that remain unresolved concern local cap properties (e.g. column abundance, volumetric density, geometric thickness, dust and water ice fraction, albedo and emissivity), energy-balance terms and CO2 condensation mechanisms. The rate of seasonal deposition and sublimation of CO2 ice is determined by the local energy balance, which depends on solar insolation, atmospheric properties (such as dust optical depth), emissivity and albedo of the surface, advection of energy by the atmosphere and energy storage within the regolith.

Since 1997, five spacecraft have observed Mars polar processes, resulting in an unprecedented amount of data with ranges of spatial and spectral resolutions not available from prior missions in the 1960s and 1970s. These datasets provide a view of the seasonal caps in five dimensions; three spatial, one temporal, and one spectral (composition). The vast amount of new data and the complex nature of the Mars polar processes necessitated the gathering of Mars polar scientists from around the world into a small group environment where the data, models, and emerging theories could be discussed.

The Third International Workshop on Mars Polar Energy Balance and the CO2 Cycle was convened 21-24 July 2009 in Seattle, WA. A total of 36 scientists from five countries (spanning two continents) attended. The expertise of attendees included remote sensing, laboratory experimentation and climate modeling. Nearly all spacecraft instruments that have been or are currently being used to monitor Mars CO2 cycle were represented. Even with this diverse and eclectic group, we were able to reach consensus on several important research goals for the next decade. Listed below are the five highest priority programmatic and research recommendations to increase our understanding of Mars polar processes. We also list an additional three moderately high-priority recommendations, which are not specific to polar research, but have an impact on Mars science in general.

EOS Supplementary material to "Determining Priorities for Future Mars Polar Research"

Planetary Decadal Survey White Paper: Mars Polar Science for the Next Decade