Publication Date:
2019-08-14
Description:
The 'blue haze' is an absorbing smoke, dark as soot in reflection, red in transmission. Its currently accepted explanation by pure scattering (omnidirectional or forward) is untenable, as it would either increase the surface brightness of fall to obscure the surface details. The limb darkening of Mars is mainly the results of absorption by the smoke. The opacity of the Martian atmosphere increases from the red toward the violet. The extinction by the Martian atmosphere is greater than that by the terrestrial at all wavelengths, but only about 20 per cent of the Martian extinction is due to scattering. Dollfus' polarimeteric estimate, corrected for self-absorption, corresponds to a martian atmospheric pressure of 87 mm Hg. The photochemical breakup of carbon dioxide and the escape of oxygen must lead to considerable concentrations of carbon monoxide in the martian atmosphere.
Keywords:
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
Type:
41st Annual Meetins, Sessions on Planetary Sciences, American Geophysical Union; Apr 27, 1960 - Apr 30, 1960; Washington, DC; United States|Journal of Geophysical Research; 65; 10; 3057-3063
Format:
text
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