1. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey show some of the most extensive mineralogical evidence to date for past water The deposits occur along an extensive topographic boundary, exposing extensive sections of the martian crust HighLow Hydration Index Josh Bandfield

2. Multiannual Martian Dust Climatology Reconstructed from Spacecraft Observations Current goals: To retrieve column dust optical depth (CDOD) from MGS/TES observations in cold regions (Martian Years 24-27). To improve the overall reconstruction of the multiannual dust climatology Methodologies: Radiative transfer modelling Gridding data with weighted binning Interpolating data with kriging Product: Twice-daily gridded maps of CDOD Montabone et al., Icarus 251, 2015 NASA PDART 2014 grant Luca Montabone

3. North Hemisphere Vortex L s ~322°, MY 26 North Hemisphere Vortex L s ~314°, MY 26 The Martian Polar Vortices : Climatology and Variability Current goal: To understand the connection between the thermal forcing induced by dust storms and the dynamical response of the Martian polar vortices. Methodology: Mars Analysis Correction Data Assimilation (MACDA) of MGS/TES and MRO/MCS observations (thermal and dust opacity profiles, column dust optical depths) in a Global Climate Model (GCM) L s ~318°, MY 26 NASA MDAP 2012 grant Luca Montabone

4. Clancy, R.T., Toigo, A., and Lefèvre, F. September 2014

5. What is distinct about the May 2014 observation is the coincidence of striking mesospheric O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) 1.27 μm dayglow (lower left), indicative of very low H 2 O/temperature conditions, which lead to locally intense O 3 enhancements (and 1.27 μm emission associated with O 3 photolysis). In this respect, we have an unique temperature indicator in the presence of CO 2 ice clouds. Interestingly, LMD GCM photochemical simulations (lower right) exhibit this localized O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) dayglow at the same location/season, associated with a thermal tide temperature minimum (the current best explanation for mesospheric CO 2 ice formation). Todd Clancy

6.  Emirates Mars Mission (EMM): Instrument Scientist on the Emirates eXporation Imager (EXI) instrument. Mission will launch in 2020, with arrival in 2021 to coincide with UAE’s 50 th anniversary.  EXI is a 6 band imager that includes 3 UV filters, and will simultaneously retrieve dust and water ice optical depths, and ozone integrated column densities.  EMM will have an orbit that will produce full disk imaging 20 times per orbit (roughly 2 days) and allow for synoptica sampling of diurnal variations on subseasonal timescales. This type of data represents one fo the fundamental “missing links” in current Mars atmospheric research. Mike Wolff

7.  Mars 2020: Co-Investigator on the Mastcam-Z imaging system, with an emphasis on atmospheric observations. Currently developing a portable stereo camera system (using COTS components…very old COTS components – Cannon D60 DSLRs) with the help of high school students to provide a portable system to produce datasets that can explore the parameter space for digital terrain mesh and stereo imaging software being developed by the team. Mike Wolff

8.  Co-I on the MARCI (UV and visible limb-to- limb iager) system onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).  Participating Scientist on the Mars Exploration Rovers  Minion on MRO/CRISM (imaging spectrometer) Mike Wolff

9.  Mapping water ice cloud distributions on Mars using the MRO/MARCI. Mike Wolff

10.  Mapping aerosol properties in the martian atmosphere by modeling the limb observations from MGS/TES and MRO/MCS.  The brightness curves allow one to determine dust particle sizes: r eff (10 km): 2.1 ± 0.2  m r eff (18 km): 1.4 ± 0.2  m r eff (25 km): 1.5 ± 0.2  m r eff (32 km): < 0.5  m Mike Wolff

11. Opportunity has been exploring the rim of Endeavour crater and has reached Marathon Valley, the host of strong clay signatures- signs of aqueous activity Farrand has discovered spectral differences between outcrop in fracture zones and that outside of fracture zones indicating aqueous activity in the fracture zones A. Representative out-of-fracture breccia matrix spectra. B. Representative in- fracture breccia matrix spectra. Spectra have not been offset.

12.  Mapping Fe-bearing minerals using HICO data from ISS  Expanded mapping of additional minerals using ASTER, AVIRIS, and Hyperion Mapping gypsum over White Sands from HICO data on the basis of 1 micron water overtone feature

13. Martian water vapor cycle from observations by Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS/LW) on Mars Express  PFS/LW infrared spectra are used to retrieve column abundances of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere  Observations of water vapor by PFS continue climatological record of vapor variability established by MGS TES  Establishing a long-term record of Martian atmospheric water is important for understanding the exchange of water between different reservoirs (polar caps, subsurface ice)  Understanding current water vapor cycle on Mars can help to understand the behavior of water on Mars in the past and to answer questions related to past habitability of Mars Seasonal changes in water vapor column abundances in MY27 (top) and MY29 (bottom) Alexey Pankine

14. Vertical profiles of Martian dust using multiple scattering radiative transfer - Dr. Pankine and Dr. Wolff developed a multiple scattering radiative transfer code for analysis of infrared spectra - Vertical profiles of dust in the Martian atmosphere are retrieved from limb-view spectra collected by MGS TES - This analysis improves understanding of the Martian dust cycle and Martian climate TES limb-view radiances (squares) and model fit (curves) Alexey Pankine

15. Modeling systematic radiometric error in MGS TES data - Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) collected ~200 million spectra of Mars from 1999 to 2006, providing unprecedented view of the Martian surface and atmosphere - Systematic radiometric error in TES data prevented use of nighttime spectra and spectra of ‘cold’ targets - Recent advances in understanding the nature of the TES error enabled retrieving dust and water ice abundances from limb spectra and nighttime nadir spectra (Dr. Pankine, Dr. Bandfield, Dr. McConnochie of UMd) - Correction for TES radiometric error doubles the amount of spectra available for further analysis Modeled TES error for several nadir spectraObserved and corrected TES spectra and model fit Alexey Pankine