The climate of Mars from assimilations of Mars Climate Sounder data

The works carried out during the first year of my DPhil project are presented in this report. The objective of this project is to make use of a unique and advanced data assimilation system that enables the combining of observational data with predictions from a global numerical model of the Martian atmospheric circulation. In this report, an introduction to the planet Mars and a brief description of observations used in this project will be included, as well as an overview of modeling works conducted in Oxford and by other groups, mainly on dust-related topics. Following the introduction, we present a brief description of the Martian General Circulation Model (MGCM) employed in this project. A new data assimilation approach will be developed based on the MGCM described in this report. A study of semi-annual oscillations on Mars from diagnostics of the assimilation results of Montabone et al. [2005] will be presented as well. A clear signature of semi-annual oscillations is observed in the assimilation results, and detailed analysis by Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) also gives us a better understanding of this semi-annual cycle. Meanwhile, the first attempt to develop an advanced data assimilation technique that includes a full assimilation of 3-D dust measurements into a moel that represents the full dust transport cycle is also an important aim of this report. The progress achieved so far on the latest 2-D dust data assimilation scheme with dust transport is encouraging for the development of future 3-D dust data assimilation scheme with dust transport. Finally, the future plan of this ongoing project is also discussed in the concluding chapter.