Abstract
Although it contains less water vapour than Earth’s atmosphere, the Martian atmosphere hosts clouds. These clouds, composed of water-ice particles, influence the global transport of water vapour and the seasonal variations of ice deposits. However, the influence of water-ice clouds on local weather is unclear: it is thought that Martian clouds are devoid of moist convective motions, and snow precipitation occurs only by the slow sedimentation of individual particles. Here we present numerical simulations of the meteorology in Martian cloudy regions that demonstrate that localized convective snowstorms can occur on Mars. We show that such snowstorms—or ice microbursts—can explain deep night-time mixing layers detected from orbit and precipitation signatures detected below water-ice clouds by the Phoenix lander. In our simulations, convective snowstorms occur only during the Martian night, and result from atmospheric instability due to radiative cooling of water-ice cloud particles. This triggers strong convective plumes within and below clouds, with fast snow precipitation resulting from the vigorous descending currents. Night-time convection in Martian water-ice clouds and the associated snow precipitation lead to transport of water both above and below the mixing layers, and thus would affect Mars’ water cycle past and present, especially under the high-obliquity conditions associated with a more intense water cycle.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Herschel, W. On the remarkable appearance of the polar regions of the planet Mars, the inclination of its axis, the position of its poles, and its spheroidical figure; with a few hints relative to its diameter. Phil. Trans. 24, 233–273 (1784).
Curran, R. J., Conrath, B. J., Hanel, R. A., Kunde, V. G. & Pearl, J. C. Mars: Mariner 9 spectroscopic evidence for H2O ice clouds. Science 182, 381–383 (1973).
Kahn, R. The spatial and seasonal distribution of Martian clouds and some meteorological implications. J. Geophys. Res. 89, 6671–6688 (1984).
Savijärvi, H. & Määttänen, A. Boundary-layer simulations for the Mars Phoenix lander site. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 136, 1497–1505 (2010).
Clancy, R. T. et al. Water vapor saturation at low altitudes around Mars aphelion: a key to Mars climate. Icarus 122, 36–62 (1996).
Wang, H. & Ingersoll, A. P. Martian clouds observed by Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 5078 (2002).
Madeleine, J.-B. et al. Aphelion water-ice cloud mapping and property retrieval using the OMEGA imaging spectrometer onboard Mars Express. J. Geophys. Res. 117, E00J07 (2012).
Richardson, M. I., Wilson, R. J. & Rodin, A. V. Water ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere: general circulation model experiments with a simple cloud scheme. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 5064 (2002).
Montmessin, F., Forget, F., Rannou, P., Cabane, M. & Haberle, R. M. Origin and role of water ice clouds in the Martian water cycle as inferred from a general circulation model. J. Geophys. Res. 109, 10004 (2004).
Colaprete, A. & Toon, O. B. The radiative effects of Martian water ice clouds on the local atmospheric temperature profile. Icarus 145, 524–532 (2000).
Wilson, R. J., Lewis, S. R., Montabone, L. & Smith, M. D. Influence of water ice clouds on Martian tropical atmospheric temperatures. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, 7202 (2008).
Wilson, R. J., Neumann, G. A. & Smith, M. D. Diurnal variation and radiative influence of Martian water ice clouds. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, 2710 (2007).
Madeleine, J.-B., Forget, F., Millour, E., Navarro, T. & Spiga, A. The influence of radiatively active water ice clouds on the Martian climate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L23202 (2012).
Hinson, D. P. & Wilson, R. J. Temperature inversions, thermal tides, and water ice clouds in the Martian tropics. J. Geophys. Res. 109, 1002 (2004).
Hinson, D. P. et al. Initial results from radio occultation measurements with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: a nocturnal mixed layer in the tropics and comparisons with polar profiles from the Mars Climate Sounder. Icarus 243, 91–103 (2014).
Smith, M. D. Interannual variability in TES atmospheric observations of Mars during 1999–2003. Icarus 167, 148–165 (2004).
Pankine, A. A., Tamppari, L. K., Bandfield, J. L., McConnochie, T. H. & Smith, M. D. Retrievals of martian atmospheric opacities from MGS TES nighttime data. Icarus 226, 708–722 (2013).
Hinson, D. P., Pätzold, M., Tellmann, S., Häusler, B. & Tyler, G. L. The depth of the convective boundary layer on Mars. Icarus 198, 57–66 (2008).
Spiga, A., Forget, F., Lewis, S. R. & Hinson, D. P. 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 (2010).
Wilson, R. W. & Hamilton, K. Comprehensive model simulation of thermal tides in the Martian atmosphere. J. Atmos. Sci. 53, 1290–1326 (1996).
Creasey, J. E., Forbes, J. M. & Hinson, D. P. Global and seasonal distribution of gravity wave activity in Mars’ lower atmosphere derived from MGS radio occultation data. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, 1803 (2006).
Lee, C. et al. Thermal tides in the Martian middle atmosphere as seen by the Mars Climate Sounder. J. Geophys. Res. 114, E03005 (2009).
Spiga, A. & Forget, F. A new model to simulate the Martian mesoscale and microscale atmospheric circulation: validation and first results. J. Geophys. Res. 114, E02009 (2009).
Spiga, A., Faure, J., Madeleine, J.-B., Määttänen, A. & Forget, F. Rocket dust storms and detached dust layers in the Martian atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 118, 746–767 (2013).
Skamarock, W. C. & Klemp, J. B. A time-split nonhydrostatic atmospheric model for weather research and forecasting applications. J. Comput. Phys. 227, 3465–3485 (2008).
Navarro, T. et al. Global climate modeling of the Martian water cycle with improved microphysics and radiatively active water ice clouds. J. Geophys. Res. 119, 1479–1495 (2014).
Nicholls, S. The structure of radiatively driven convection in stratocumulus. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 115, 487–511 (1989).
Imamura, T. et al. Inverse insolation dependence of Venus’ cloud-level convection. Icarus 228, 181–188 (2014).
Hourdin, F., Le Van, P., Forget, F. & Talagrand, O. Meteorological variability and the annual surface pressure cycle on Mars. J. Atmos. Sci. 50, 3625–3640 (1993).
Hourdin, F., Couvreux, F. & Menut, L. Parameterization of the dry convective boundary layer based on a mass flux representation of thermals. J. Atmos. Sci. 59, 1105–1123 (2002).
Spiga, A. et al. The impact of Martian mesoscale winds on surface temperature and on the determination of thermal inertia. Icarus 212, 504–519 (2011).
Michaels, T. I., Colaprete, A. & Rafkin, S. C. R. Significant vertical water transport by mountain-induced circulations on Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L16201 (2006).
Linkin, V. M. et al. VEGA balloon dynamics and vertical winds in the Venus middle cloud region. Science 231, 1417–1419 (1986).
Byers, H. R. & Braham, R. R. Jr Thunderstorm structure and circulation. J. Meteorol. 5, 71–86 (1948).
Wakimoto, R. M. & Bringi, V. N. Dual-polarization observations of microbursts associated with intense convection: the 20 July storm during the MIST project. Mon. Weather Rev. 116, 1521–1539 (1988).
Whiteway, J. A. et al. Mars water-ice clouds and precipitation. Science 325, 68–70 (2009).
Dickinson, C. et al. Lidar atmospheric measurements on Mars and Earth. Planet. Space Sci. 59, 942–951 (2011).
Daerden, F. et al. Simulating observed boundary layer clouds on Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L04203 (2010).
Maltagliati, L. et al. Evidence of water vapor in excess of saturation in the atmosphere of Mars. Science 333, 1868–1871 (2011).
Chaffin, M. S., Deighan, J., Schneider, N. M. & Stewart, A. I. F. Elevated atmospheric escape of atomic hydrogen from Mars induced by high-altitude water. Nat. Geosci. 10, 174–178 (2017).
Forget, F., Haberle, R. M., Montmessin, F., Levrard, B. & Head, J. W. Formation of glaciers on Mars by atmospheric precipitation at high obliquity. Science 311, 368–371 (2006).
Madeleine, J.-B. et al. Amazonian northern mid-latitude glaciation on Mars: a proposed climate scenario. Icarus 203, 390–405 (2009).
Forget, F. et al. Improved general circulation models of the Martian atmosphere from the surface to above 80 km. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 24155–24176 (1999).
Hourdin, F. A new representation of the CO2 15 μm band for a Martian general circulation model. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 18319–18335 (1992).
Madeleine, J.-B., Forget, F., Millour, E., Montabone, L. & Wolff, M. J. Revisiting the radiative impact of dust on Mars using the LMD Global Climate Model. J. Geophys. Res. 116, E11010 (2011).
Määttänen, A. et al. Nucleation studies in the Martian atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 110, E02002 (2005).
Colaïtis, A. et al. A thermal plume model for the Martian convective boundary layer. J. Geophys. Res. 118, 1468–1487 (2013).
Tyler, D. & Barnes, J. R. Atmospheric mesoscale modeling of water and clouds during northern summer on Mars. Icarus 237, 388–414 (2014).
Montabone, L. et al. Eight-year climatology of dust optical depth on Mars. Icarus 251, 65–95 (2015).
Lilly, D. K. On the numerical simulation of buoyant convection. Tellus 14, 148–172 (1962).
Tyler, D. & Barnes, J. R. Mesoscale modeling of the circulation in the Gale Crater region: an investigation into the complex forcing of convective boundary layer depths. Mars 8, 58–77 (2013).
Moeng, C. H., Dudhia, J., Klemp, J. & Sullivan, P. Examining two-way grid nesting for Large Eddy Simulation of the PBL using the WRF model. Mon. Weather Rev. 135, 2295–2311 (2007).
Lewis, S. R. et al. A climate database for Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 24177–24194 (1999).
Millour, E. et al. & MCD/GCM Development Team The Mars Climate Database (MCD Version 5.2) (European Planetary Science Congress, EPSC2015-438, 2015).
Lefèvre, M., Spiga, A. & Lebonnois, S. Three-dimensional turbulence-resolving modeling of the venusian cloud layer and induced gravity waves. J. Geophys. Res. 122, 134–149 (2017).
Acknowledgements
All model runs were carried out on the ‘mésocentre ESPRI’ computing facilities (ciclad cluster) in Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL). A.S., J.-B.M., T.N., E.M., F.F. and F.M. acknowledge financial support for development of Martian atmospheric models and climate databases by European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). A.S. acknowledges Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) for welcoming him in a part-time délégation position in 2014–2015 when the present study was initiated. A.S. acknowledges members from the ‘Earth Climate Modeling’ team at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique for expertise on terrestrial moist convection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the scientific discussions and manuscript writing. A.S. designed the study, developed the mesoscale model and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) for Mars, performed all computer runs, and led manuscript writing. D.P.H. provided and analysed the radio-occultations measurements of night-time mixing layers. J.-B.M. and F.F. developed and validated the radiative model for dust and water-ice particles. T.N. and J.-B.M. developed and validated the microphysical water-ice cloud model. E.M. led the development and validation of the physical packages in the Global Climate Model and mesoscale model. F.F. and F.M. provided expertise on atmospheric modelling of Martian water-ice clouds.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Information (PDF 1481 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spiga, A., Hinson, D., Madeleine, JB. et al. Snow precipitation on Mars driven by cloud-induced night-time convection. Nature Geosci 10, 652–657 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo3008
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo3008
This article is cited by
-
Multi-model Meteorological and Aeolian Predictions for Mars 2020 and the Jezero Crater Region
Space Science Reviews (2021)
-
Thermal structure of the Venusian atmosphere from the sub-cloud region to the mesosphere as observed by radio occultation
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
Martian weather kicks into high gear at night
Nature (2017)