@article{2569bc0d35bf43fc86064453bfd53809,
title = "Modern Mars' geomorphological activity, driven by wind, frost, and gravity",
abstract = "Extensive evidence of landform-scale martian geomorphic changes has been acquired in the last decade, and the number and range of examples of surface activity have increased as more high-resolution imagery has been acquired. Within the present-day Mars climate, wind and frost/ice are the dominant drivers, resulting in large avalanches of material down icy, rocky, or sandy slopes; sediment transport leading to many scales of aeolian bedforms and erosion; pits of various forms and patterned ground; and substrate material carved out from under subliming ice slabs. Due to the ability to collect correlated observations of surface activity and new landforms with relevant environmental conditions with spacecraft on or around Mars, studies of martian geomorphologic activity are uniquely positioned to directly test surface-atmosphere interaction and landform formation/evolution models outside of Earth. In this paper, we outline currently observed and interpreted surface activity occurring within the modern Mars environment, and tie this activity to wind, seasonal surface CO2 frost/ice, sublimation of subsurface water ice, and/or gravity drivers. Open questions regarding these processes are outlined, and then measurements needed for answering these questions are identified. In the final sections, we discuss how many of these martian processes and landforms may provide useful analogs for conditions and processes active on other planetary surfaces, with an emphasis on those that stretch the bounds of terrestrial-based models or that lack terrestrial analogs. In these ways, modern Mars presents a natural and powerful comparative planetology base case for studies of Solar System surface processes, beyond or instead of Earth.",
keywords = "Aeolian, Comparative planetology, Geomorphological activity, Mars, Mass wasting, Sublimation",
author = "Serina Diniega and Bramson, {Ali M.} and Bonnie Buratti and Peter Buhler and Burr, {Devon M.} and Matthew Chojnacki and Conway, {Susan J.} and Dundas, {Colin M.} and Hansen, {Candice J.} and McEwen, {Alfred S.} and Lap{\^o}tre, {Mathieu G.A.} and Joseph Levy and {Mc Keown}, Lauren and Sylvain Piqueux and Ganna Portyankina and Christy Swann and Titus, {Timothy N.} and Widmer, {Jacob M.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank our reviewers, Cl{\'e}mence Herny and Mackenzie Day, for their very thorough reads and thoughtful critiques and suggestions. The work by JPL authors (SD, BB, SP) was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). MC wishes to thank NASA Mars Data Analysis Program grant 80NSSC20K1066. ML wishes to thank NASA Solar System Workings Program grant 80NSSC20K0145. SJC is grateful to the French Space Agency CNES for funding her HiRISE and CaSSIS related work. Some manuscript content was derived based on personal communications with terrestrial and planetary aeolian community members and we appreciate the insights and information; in particular, Scot Rafkin (SwRI) assisted with the description of important untested models of meteorologic dynamics. Finally, we thank the many space/Earth/physical sciences agencies' staff, planetary mission and instrument teams, and researchers who have enabled the observations, analysis, and community collaborations that contribute towards studies of Mars as an active and connected system. This includes, but is not limited to, the spacecraft and instrument engineering teams for the successful completion and operation of MRO and TGO/CaSSIS. CaSSIS is a project of the University of Bern funded through the Swiss Space Office via ESA's PRODEX programme; the CaSSIS instrument hardware development was also supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) (ASI-INAF agreement no. I/018/12/0), INAF/Astronomical Observatory of Padova, and the Space Research Center (CBK) in Warsaw. Funding Information: We thank our reviewers, Cl{\'e}mence Herny and Mackenzie Day, for their very thorough reads and thoughtful critiques and suggestions. The work by JPL authors (SD, BB, SP) was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). MC wishes to thank NASA Mars Data Analysis Program grant 80NSSC20K1066 . ML wishes to thank NASA Solar System Workings Program grant 80NSSC20K0145 . SJC is grateful to the French Space Agency CNES for funding her HiRISE and CaSSIS related work. Some manuscript content was derived based on personal communications with terrestrial and planetary aeolian community members and we appreciate the insights and information; in particular, Scot Rafkin (SwRI) assisted with the description of important untested models of meteorologic dynamics. Finally, we thank the many space/Earth/physical sciences agencies' staff, planetary mission and instrument teams, and researchers who have enabled the observations, analysis, and community collaborations that contribute towards studies of Mars as an active and connected system. This includes, but is not limited to, the spacecraft and instrument engineering teams for the successful completion and operation of MRO and TGO/CaSSIS. CaSSIS is a project of the University of Bern funded through the Swiss Space Office via ESA's PRODEX programme; the CaSSIS instrument hardware development was also supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) (ASI-INAF agreement no. I/018/12/0), INAF/Astronomical Observatory of Padova, and the Space Research Center (CBK) in Warsaw. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",
year = "2021",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107627",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "380",
journal = "Geomorphology",
issn = "0169-555X",
publisher = "Elsevier",
}