Martian Top of the Atmosphere 10-420 nm spectral irradiance database and forecast for solar cycle 24

Alfonso Delgado-Bonal*, María-Paz Zorzano, F. Javier Martín-Torres

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ultraviolet radiation from 10 to 420 nm reaching Mars Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) and surface is important in a wide variety of fields such as space exploration, climate modeling, and spacecraft design, as it has impact in the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere and soil. Despite the existence of databases for UV radiation reaching Earth TOA, based in space-borne instrumentation orbiting our planet, there is no similar information for Mars. Here we present a Mars TOA UV spectral irradiance database for solar cycle 24 (years 2008–2019), containing daily values from 10 to 420 nm. The values in this database have been computed using a model that is fed by the Earth-orbiting Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) data. As the radiation coming from the Sun is not completely isotropic, in order to eliminate the geometrically related features but being able to capture the general characteristics of the solar cycle stage, we provide 3-, 7- and 15-days averaged values at each wavelength. Our database is of interest for atmospheric modeling and spectrally dependent experiments on Mars, the analysis of current and upcoming surface missions (rovers and landers) and orbiters in Mars. Daily values for the TOA UV conditions at the rover Curiosity location, as well as for the NASA Insight mission in 2016, and ESA/Russia ExoMars mission in 2018 are provided.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)228-235
Number of pages8
JournalSolar Energy
Volume134
Early online date12 May 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
The first author wants to acknowledge the Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna, Sweden, for the scholarship award that partially funded this investigation. We also thanks to Tom Woods for providing the W–R model and to him and Jeffrey Harder for their comments about the gaps and status of the SORCE data.

Keywords

  • Mars TOA
  • UV radiation
  • REMS
  • Space exploration

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