Meetings

19-21 September 2023

From 19 to 21 September, the “Dust on Mars” final workshop was organised at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA- IASB) in Brussels (Belgium). The workshop was organized as a mix of invited lectures, oral presentations and poster sessions, and addressed different topics related to dust and clouds, their characteristics (dynamics, radiative), their characterisation in the lab, and detection using remote sensing instruments.

The workshop was co-funded by RoadMap and specifically addressed PhD and Master students.

Invited lectures:

• Optical properties of Martian dust - I. Laboratory measurements, Olga Muñoz (IAA, Spain): presentation - recording
• Optical properties of Martian dust - II. Modeling, Julia Martikainen (IAA, Spain): presentation - recording
• Collisions of grains: From sticking to fragmentation, Gerhard Wurm (UDE, Germany): presentation - recording
• Wind driven dust and sand transport, Jonathan Merrison (AU, Denmark): presentation - recording
• Dust aerosol properties on Mars from spacecraft: A current perspective, Yannick Willame (BIRA-IASB, Belgium) & Mike Wolff (SSI, USA): presentation - recording
• Light polarization and its use in retrievals of atmospheric particles (clouds, aerosols), Filip Vanhellemont (BIRA-IASB, Belgium): presentation - recording
• Monitoring Martian dust storms by multi-satellite observations, Luca Montabone (SSI, USA): presentation - recording
• GCM modelling of dust: transport and radiative effects, Lori Neary (BIRA-IASB, Belgium): presentation - recording

Other presentations:

• Power attenuation of Mars rovers solar panels due to dust accumulation, Thomas Pierron (CNRS, France): presentation - recording
• Compilation of the results of laboratory measurements at UDE, Tim Becker (UDE, Germany): presentation - recording
• Aerosol climatology from NOMAD UVIS, Zachary Flimon (BIRA-IASB, Belgium): presentation - recording
• Temperature retrievals from NOMAD-SO, Loïc Trompet (BIRA-IASB, Belgium): presentation - recording
• Improving the dust vertical distribution in the Mars PCM: Successes and challenges, Antoine Bierjon (CNRS, France): presentation - recording

The workshop included an interaction with students from the LUCA School of Art who presented an updated version of their artistic visualizations of Martian dust and ice clouds, created during their “magnet week” in March. Some impressions…

Partners of the RoadMap project were involved in the organization of the 20th Electromagnetic and Light Scattering International Conference, which was held at Almuñécar (Spain), 15-19 May 2023.

LOC members:          Julia Martikainen, Fernando Moreno, and Daniel Guirado

SOC member:            Ann C. Vandaele

Session conveners: Olga Muñoz, Karri Muinonen, and Gorden Videen

Also, RoadMap partners presented the following oral presentations:

• The role of dust in the Martian atmosphere. Ann C. Vandaele (Invited)
• Retrieving optical properties of dust particles from laboratory data: refractive indices and scattering matrix elements. Julia Martikainen 

The 55^th Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Scieces (DPS-EPSC) was held in San Antonio, TX, USA, 1-6 October (2023). RoadMap partners presented the following presentations:

• The Martian atmosphere and surface observed by NOMAD on ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Vandaele et al.

The AGU Fall Conference was held in San Francisco, CA, USA, 11-15 December (2023). RoadMap partners presented the following presentations:

• Aeolian Dust Generation from Saltation Bombardement on Mars - Efficiency and Electrification. Tim Becker, Jens Teiser, Teresa Jardiel, Marco Peiteado, Olga Munoz, Julia Martikainen, Juan Carlos Gomez Martin, Jon Merrison, Gerhard Wurm

The High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy Conference was held in Cologne (Germany + virtual), 31 Aug 2021. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Plenary Talk on Spectroscopic Exploration of the Martian System, AC Vandaele

The MUAN meeting was held in Uppsala (Sweden), 2-5 May (2022). Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Mars mesosphere and thermosphere vertical profiles of CO2 density and temperature from NOMAD-SO: Loïc Trompet, Ann Carine Vandaele, Edward Thiemann, Ian Thomas, Shohei Aoki, Justin Erwin, Bojan Ristic

The EGU meeting was held in Vienna (Austria), 23-27 May (2022). Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Impact of gradients at the Martian terminator on the retrieval of ozone from TGO/NOMAD-UVIS. Arianna Piccialli, Ann Carine Vandaele, Lori Neary, Yannick Willame, Shohei Aoki, Loic Trompet, Cedric Depiesse, Sebastian Viscardy, Frank Daerden, Justin Erwin, Ian R. Thomas, Bojan Ristic, Jon P. Mason, Manish Patel, Alain Khayat, Mike Wolff, Giancarlo Bellucci, and Jose Juan Lopez-Moreno

The XVII Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie was held in Napoli, 20-24 June 2022. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Ozone in the martian atmosphere observed by TGO/NOMAD-UVIS solar occultations. Arianna Piccialli, A. C. Vandaele, S. Aoki, F. Daerden, Y. Willame, C. Depiesse, L. Trompet, L. Neary, S. Viscardy, J. Erwin, I. R. Thomas, B. Ristic, J.P. Mason, M.R. Patel, A. Khayat, M. Wolff, G. Bellucci, J.-J. Lopez-Moreno

The 7th MAMO (Martian Atmosphere Modelling and Observations) workshop was held in Paris, 14-17 June 2022. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Overview and status update of teh GEM-Mars GCM at BIRA-IASB. L. Neary. F. Daerden.
• Dust Climatology from NOMAD UVIS Channel. Z. Flimon, J. Erwin, A.C. Vandaele, L. Neary, A. Piccialli, L. Trompet, Y. Willame, F. Daerden , S. Bauduin, I. R. Thomas, B. Ristic, J. Mason, C. Depiesse, M. R. Patel, G. Bellucci, J.-J. Lopez-Moreno.
• Aerosol Nadir Retrieval from NOMAD/UVIS on board Exomars TGO. Y. Willame, A.C. Vandaele, J. Erwin, A. Picciali, C. Depiesse, F. Daerden, L. Neary, I. Thomas, B. Ristic, M.J. Wolff, J. Mason, M. R. Patel, G. Bellucci, J.J Lopez-Moreno
• RoadMap - from Lab to Space: Applying an Updated Dust Lifting Equation in the GEMMars GCM. L. Neary, F. Daerden, G. Wurm, T. Becker, J. Teiser, J. Merrison, K. Rasmussen, A. Waza, O. Munoz, J. Martikainen, J. C. Gomez Martin, F.Moreno, T. Jardiel Peiteado, A. C. Caballero, J. T. Erwin, Z. Filmon, A. Piccialli, L.Trompet, Y. Willame, A. C. Vandaele
• RoadMap - from Lab to Space: Experimental Scattering Matrices of Martian Dust Analogues. O. Muñoz, J. Martikainen, J. C. Gomez Martín, T. Jardiel, M. Peiteado, A. C. Caballero, G. Wurm, T. Becker, J. Teiser, J. Merrison, K. Rasmussen, A. Waza, A. C.Vandaele, Y. Willame, L. Neary, F. Daerden, Z. Filmon, A. Piccialli, L. Trompet
• Retrieval of Optical Constants at UV-VIS-NIR for Martian Dust Analogues by Modelling Light Scattering. J. Martikainen, J. C. Gómez-Martín, O. Muñoz, T. Jardiel, M. Peiteado, Y.Vidrio, M. Wolff, and the RoadMap Team
• Mesospheric Carbon Dioxide and Temperature Retrievals From NOMAD-SO Onboard TGO. L. Trompet, A.C. Vandaele, I. Thomas, S. Aoki, F. Daerden, J. Erwin, Z. Flimon, A. Mahieux, L. Neary, S. Robert, G. Villanueva, G. Liuzzi, M.A. Lopez-Valverde, A. Brines, J. J. Lopez-Moreno, G. Bellucci, M. R. Patel
• Relationship Between the Ozone and Water Vapour Vertical Profiles on Mars Observed by NOMAD-TGO. A. Piccialli, A. C. Vandaele, S. Aoki, F. Daerden, Y. Willame, C. Depiesse,L. Trompet, L. Neary, S. Viscardy, J. Erwin, I. R. Thomas, B. Ristic, J.P. Mason, M.R. Patel, A. Khayat, M. Wolff, G. Bellucci, J.-J. Lopez-Moreno

The PFE-SPP 1992 JointMeeting was held in Berlin, 12-14 September 2022. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• Collisional Charging in the Low Pressure Range of Protoplanetary Disks. Tim Becker, Tobias Steinpilz, Jens Teiser, Gerhard Wurm

The 54th Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) was held in London, Canada, 2-7 October 2022. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation:

• GCM Modelling of the Martian atmosphere in support of the ExoMars TGO/NOMAD instrument, Lori Neary and Frank Daerden

The EPSC 2022 congress will be held in Granada (Spain) in September 2022. Granada is the host town of one of the RoadMap partners, who are highly involved in the organisation of the conference.

The intention of the Europlanet Science Congress 2022 is to cover a broad area of science topics related to planetary science and planetary missions. EPSC will this year be jointly organized with the annual EANA (European Astrobiology Network Association) Conference 2022, and will therefore include a large number of sessions with an Astrobiology focus.

The Europlanet Science Congress (formerly the European Planetary Science Congress) is the annual meeting place of the Europlanet Society. With a track record of 16 years and regularly attracting around 1,000 participants, the Europlanet Science Congress is the largest planetary science meeting in Europe. It covers the entire range of planetary sciences with an extensive mix of talks, workshops and poster sessions while providing a unique space for networking and exchange of experiences.

The RoadMap partners have proposed a session dedicated to Dust on Mars:

Martian dust and clouds: from lab to space
Dust and clouds are critical elements in the Martian atmosphere. They control the radiative budget, have an impact on the composition, and affect its dynamical processes.
The aim of this session is to bring together scientists involved in modelling and observing Martian dust and clouds, from the lab to the analysis of space data. We will consider presentations on observations, field and laboratory experiments covering different aspects of dust and clouds, such as aeolian processes, dust lifting, sedimentation, scavenging, nucleation, aggregation, optical properties including scattering characterization, etc., but also on modelling of these processes from the perspective of implementation in radiative transfer codes or Global Circulation models.
Convener: Olga Muñoz
Co-conveners: Jonathan Merrison, Gerhard Wurm, Ann Carine Vandaele, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Michael Wolff
Link: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2022/session/44664

RoadMap partners actively participated to the EPSC (EuroPlanet Europlanet Science Congress), 13-24 Sept. 2021, virtual:

• Interview during the ‘Daily Briefing’ of Wednesday 22/09 conferencehttps://vimeo.com/showcase/8857956/video/604218104 (AC. Vandaele, BIRA-IASB)
• Organizer of the Wiki-edit-a-thon sessions (6 in total) during the EPSC21 conference, to highlight female planetary scientists on Wikipedia (A. Piccialli, BIRA-IASB)
• 17 presentations linked to NOMAD, from which the following are directly linked to RoadMap
• Relationship between the ozone and water vapour vertical profiles on Mars observed by NOMAD-TGO, Arianna Piccialli et al.
• Water vapor vertical distributions on Mars: Results from three years of TGO/NOMAD science operations, Shohei Aoki, Ann Carine Vandaele et al.
• Nadir retrieval of ice clouds and dust from NOMAD/UVIS on board Exomars TGO, Yannick Willame et al.
• Update on CO2 and temperature profiles retrievals from NOMAD-SO on board ExoMars TGO, Loïc Trompet et al.
• The Martian environment observed by NOMAD on ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Ann Carine Vandaele et al.

This year the EGU conference was again held remotely. Partners of the RoadMap project, presented the following presentation :

• Ozone vertical profiles from TGO/NOMAD-UVIS: an inter-comparison of three retrieval schemes Arianna Piccialli, Ann Carine Vandaele, Yannick Willame, Shohei Aoki, Cedric Depiesse, Loic Trompet, Lori Neary, Sebastien Viscardy, Frank Daerden, Justin Erwin, Ian R. Thomas, Bojan Ristic, Jon Mason, Manish Patel, Alain Khayat, Michael Wolff, Giancarlo Bellucci, and Jose Juan Lopez Moreno.

The Kick-Off meeting took place as a virtual meeting, due to the COVID pandemic, on November 19, 2020. It allowed all the partners involved in the project to get together and explain in details the activities which will be carried out.

The first Progress Meeting took place as a virtual meeting, due to the COVID pandemic, on May 10, 2021. It allowed all the partners involved in the project to get together and explain in details the activities that have been carried out during the first half year of the project to the Project Officer at HaDEA, Mrs. Diana MJASCHKOVA-PASCUAL. It was also attended by the members of the Advisory Board, Dr. Hannakaisa LINDQVIST and Dr. Mike WOLFF.