Water ice clouds in a martian global climate model using data assimilation

The water cycle is one of the key seasonal cycles on Mars, and the radiative effects of water ice clouds have recently been shown to alter the thermal structure of the atmosphere. Current Mars General Circulation Models (MGCMs) are capable of representing the formation and evolution of water ice clouds, though there are still many unanswered questions regarding their effect on the water cycle, the local atmosphere and the global circulation. We discuss the properties of clouds in the LMD/UK MGCM and compare them with observations, focusing on the differences between the water ice clouds in a standalone model and those in a model which has been modified by assimilation of thermal and aerosol opacity spacecraft data.