A Climatology Of The Martian Northern Polar Vortex.
P. M. Streeter, School Of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K. (Paul.Streeter@Open.Ac.Uk),
S. R. Lewis, J. A. Holmes, K. Rajendran, School Of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.,
M. R. Patel, School Of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K., Space Science And Technology
Department, Science And Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, U.K..

Understanding The Behaviour Of Mars’ Polar Vortices,
And Their Modification Under Different Dust Loading Conditions, Is Important For Understanding Its Contemporary
And Ancient Climate, Including Aerosol And Chemical Cycles. We Present An Eight Martian Year Climatology Of
The Northern Polar Vortex, Via The Assimilation Of Orbital
Temperature And Dust Observations Into A Global Climate
Model. We Show That The General Seasonal Behaviour
And Morphology Of The Vortex Is Highly Interanually Repeatable, With The Important Exception Of Dust Storm
Effects. Previous Work Has Focused On Individual Regional Or Global Dust Storm Effects, Specifically Solstitial
Events For The Latter; By Investigating An Eight-Year Period
Covering Two Global And Multiple Regional Dust Storms,
We Are Able To Investigate The Potentially Crucial Impact
Of Dust Storm Timing On Vortex Effects As Suggested By
Previous Work [10]. We Find That The Seasonal Timing
Of Atmospheric Dust Loading Does Indeed Have A Crucial