Simulations of Halos Produced by Carbon Dioxide Ice Crystals in the Martian Atmosphere

Abstract

Abstract It has been known for decades that carbon dioxide (CO2) ice clouds exist in the Martian atmosphere. According to remote sensing observations and previous modeling studies, the Martian CO2 ice crystals may be sufficiently large to generate halos. However, observations of CO2 ice crystal halos have not been reported so far. This study simulates the scattering and polarized phase functions at a wavelength of 0.48 μm based on state‐of‐the‐art light‐scattering computational capabilities. The specific CO2 ice crystal habits considered in the simulations include cubes, octahedrons, cubo‐octahedrons, and truncated octahedrons of various sizes. The halos produced by CO2 ice crystals peak at approximately 29° and 42°. Moreover, large CO2 ice crystals may cause strong scattering peaks at 155° and 180°. An ensemble of water (H2O) ice crystals and CO2 ice crystals with appropriate mixing fractions might be responsible for a halo occurrence recently observed on Mars.

Keywords

• CO2 ice crystal
• light scattering
• Martian atmosphere