Introduction: The primary objective of this project is to understand the consequences of glow electrical discharges on the chemistry and biology of Mars. The possibility was raised some time ago that the absence of organic material and carbonaceous matter in the Martian soil samples studied by the Viking Landers might be due in part to an intrinsic atmospheric mechanism such as glow discharge. ...

A number of different dust lifting parameterizations have been used to model the injection of dust from the Martian surface into the atmosphere, and the form of the resulting dust cycles and dust storms produced are found to be highly dependent on the precise form of the parameterization used, provided that it includes some threshold dependence, and particularly where radiatively active dust tr...

[1] A recent field experiment in southern Florida using aircraft and polarization lidar shows that mineral dust particles transported from Saharan Africa are effective ice nuclei, apparently capable of glaciating a mildly supercooled ( 5.2 to 8.8 C) altocumulus cloud. These results are similar to those from Asian dust storm particles observed over the western US, suggesting that in the northern...

The impacts of Dust and Sand Storms (DSS) on people, crops, livestock, infrastructure and health are well documented. Data have accumulated on the deleterious effects of dust aerosols when they settle on plants. Sand blasting of low growing plants is a common cause of failure in reforestation efforts. Burial of plants by moving sands are also a cause of much damage. The physics of moving sand a...

Aerosol observational data spanning three years (2005–2007) from the Chinese Sun Hazemeter Network (CSHN) were analyzed to characterize the optical properties of spring aerosol particles in dust and non-dust weather conditions. The measurements were segregated and the dates of dust period were chosen by ground-based observations and the National Sand-dust Weather Almanac. Observational data obt...