On the impact of the vertical structure of Martian water ice clouds on nadir atmospheric retrievals from simultaneous EMM/EXI and TGO/ACS-MIR observations

TL;DR

This study investigates how the vertical structure of Martian water ice clouds affects the accuracy of cloud optical depth retrievals from nadir imagery, highlighting the importance of incorporating vertical profiles for better atmospheric monitoring.

Contribution

It introduces a comparison between uniform and derived vertical cloud profiles for optical depth retrievals, emphasizing the impact of vertical structure on measurement accuracy.

Findings

Neglecting vertical cloud profiles can underestimate optical depth by up to 50%.

Latitudinal variations significantly influence retrieval accuracy.

Recommendations are provided for improving cloud parameterization in radiative transfer models.

Abstract

Retrieving the optical depth of the Martian clouds ($\tau_\mathrm{cld}$) is a powerful way to monitor their spatial and temporal evolution. However, such retrievals from nadir imagery rely on several assumptions, including the vertical structure of the clouds in the atmosphere. Here we compare the results of cloud optical depth retrievals at 320 nm from the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) onboard the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) "Hope" orbiter performed using a basic uniform cloud profile used in previous studies and using derived cloud profiles obtained from near-simultaneous Solar Occultation observations in the 3.1-3.4 $\mu$m spectral range from the Middle-Infrared channel of the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) instrument onboard the ESA Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). We show that the latitudinal dependence of the cloud vertical profiles can have a strong impact on the nadir retrievals; neglecting it can lead to a significant underestimation of $\tau_\mathrm{cld}$ in the polar regions (up to 25 % to 50 %, depending on the vertical distribution of the dust in the atmosphere) and to a lesser extent, to an overestimation of $\tau_\mathrm{cld}$ around the equator. We also discuss the impact of a vertically-dependent particle size profile, as previous studies have shown the presence of very small water ice particles at the top of the clouds. From this analysis, we provide recommendations for the improvement of water ice cloud parameterization in radiative transfer algorithms in nadir atmospheric retrievals.