Adapting GEOS_CHEM

to Mars Photochemisty
Huiqun Wang1
Kelly Chance1
Daniel Jacob2
Mark Richardson3
Michael Mischna4
1
Center for Astrophysics (CFA)
2
Harvard
3
CALTECH
4
JPL
 Motivation

• 1D photochemical model for Mars

• 3D Mars GCM

• Observations of trace gases and aerosols

in the Martian atmosphere
 Mars atmospheric composition
CO2 0.955 H2O 0-70prµm
N2 0.027 O3 0-60µm-atm
Ar 0.016 H2O2 0-40ppb
O2 1.3e-3 …
CO 8.0e-4
H2 1.7e-5
He 1.0e-5
Ne 2.5e-6
Kr 3.0e-7
CH4 1.0e-8
1 prµm = 3.34e+18 cm-2; 1 µm-atm = 2.69e+15 cm-2 = 0.1DU
Photochemistry in a pure CO2 atmosphere

CO2  h  CO  O
O  O  M  O2  M
2CO2  2CO  O2

O2  h  O  O
O2  O  M  O3
 CO2 stability problem

Prediction: Observation:

CO: 7.72e-2 CO: 7.0e-4

O2: 3.87e-2 O2: 1.3e-3

O3: 126DU O3: < a few DU

 HOx catalytic chemistry
[McElroy & Donahue, 1972; Parkinson & Hunten, 1972]
H 2O  h  H  OH
CO  OH  CO2  H CO  OH  CO2  H
H  O2  M  HO2  M H  O3  OH  O2
O  HO2  O2  OH O  O2  M  O3  M
CO  O  CO2 CO  O  CO2

2(CO  OH  CO2  H )
2( H  O2  M  HO2  M )
HO2  HO2  H 2O2  O2
H 2O2  h  2OH
2CO  O2  2CO2
 HOx-NOx catalytic chemistry

2(CO  OH  CO2  H )
2( H  O2  M  HO2  M )
CO  OH  CO2  H
HO2  NO  NO2  OH H  O2  M  HO2  M
NO2  h  NO  O HO2  NO  NO2  OH
O  HO2  O2  OH NO2  O  O2  NO
2CO  O2  2CO2 CO  O  CO2

Heterogeneous chemistry
 Mars GCMs
• NASA AMES CO2 IR heating
C-grid, p coord, 0-80km
Dust visible & IR heating
• GFDL Surface physics
A-grid, σ-p coord, 20–40 layers, 0-80km
Subgrid-scale processes
• LMD/AOPP
CO2 cycle
A-grid/spectral, σ coord, 32 layers, 0-120/240km
Water cycle
• Planetary WRF
C-grid, σ coord, 25 or 40 layers, 0-80km Dust cycle
…
Atmospheric chemistry
MEX simultaneous observations of water vapor and ozone
[Perrier et al., 2006]

SPICAM Water Vapor Column abundance [Fedorova et al., 2006]

MEX SPICAM observations of ozone vertical profile
 3D Mars photochemical model
• Lefevre et al., 2004. Three-dimensional modeling of ozone
on Mars. J. Geophys. Res.,109,
doi:10.1029/2004JE002268.

• Hartogh et al., 2006. A new coupled 3D-model of the

dynamics and chemistry of the Martian atmosphere. DPS
2006 abstract #60.05.

• Moudden and McConnell, 2006. Three-dimensional on-line

chemical modeling in a Mars general circulation model,
submitted to Icarus.
 GEOS_CHEM

Mars Mars
meteorology photochemistry
•Kinetic reactions
•Photolysis

Mars GCM LIDORT

Table for J-values
 Interface with MGCM
• Time
Year, Day-of-Year, Planetary-second
• Constants
CMN_GCTM: eccentricity, g0, Rplanet, Rd, Cp, …
• File format
Input Netcdf: 40 days / GCM met file
Output Bpch: restart file & diagnostics
• Grid structure
64 longitudes, 36 latitudes, 25 levels
 2
J     , T , P    , T , P   I   d 
1
Phot-freq Cross section Quantum yield Actinic flux

LIDORT→Actinic Flux→Integration→Scaling

120nm – 800nm

CO2, O2, O3, H2O,

Rayleigh, dust

Look-up table for J:

SZA, Surface P, O3 column, H2O column, column dust, T profile type
Preliminary results from basic model