Project:	Advancing our Understanding of Small Martian Dust Storms (JPL AO No. 15128)
Disciplines:	Data Science, Planetary Science
Mentor:	Mark Wronkiewicz, (JPL), wronk@jpl.nasa.gov, Phone: (818) 354-6110
Background:	Understanding Martian Dust Storms The Martian climate is significantly influenced by its dust cycle, where dust is lifted from the surface, transported through the atmosphere, and then redeposited. While suspended, dust affects the atmosphere's heating rate, potentially intensifying circulation and impacting both the water and carbon dioxide cycles. Dust is transported by dust events on Mars, which can vary in scale from small dust devils to large global dust storms. This work focuses on local dust storms (LDSs) -- small but frequently occurring dust events that are about the size of a US state. They are believed to play a crucial role in the Martian climate but have proven difficult to analyze in the past because of their relatively small size and short lifespan. There's a need for a deeper understanding of these LDSs and their broader implications on the Martian dust cycle and meteorology. Once the processes that underpin dust storms are better defined, the scientific community can begin to use that in global climate models and for lowering risk on future robotic or crewed exploration of Mars. Research Objectives and Motivation The primary goal of this research is to quantify the lifecycle of LDSs and their impact on the Martian climate. A significant question in Martian atmospheric science is how the lifecycle of LDSs is related to their thermal structure. While many small storms are short-lived, a few grow into large-scale events affecting the entire Martian atmosphere. Therefore, our first objective is to investigate if and how the thermal structure of LDSs varies according to their geographical location, season, and storm characteristics (including storm size, movement speed, etc.). A second aim of this work is to understand the end-to-end storm lifecycle by quantifying how the typical thermal structure changes through time and if there is any relationship to storm survivability (including at nighttime). Finally, this work will investigate if the dust raised by LDSs remains suspended even after the storm dissipates. Mars has a continuous background dust haze that contributes to atmospheric warming. The origins and sustaining mechanisms of this haze remain a mystery, and we wish to quantify the contribution of LDSs.
Description:	The participant will: * assist in exploratory data analyses to characterize the differences in the Martian atmosphere in the presence/absence of small dust storms. * contribute to the selection and development of data science techniques (using some combination of classical statistics, uncertainty quantification, and ML) to quantify the effects of small dust storms on the Martian atmosphere. * participate in weekly meetings with expert atmospheric scientists (both to contribute ideas and to learn).
Student Requirements:	The skills below are required or desirable. Code development will happen primarily in python * Data manipulation: The primary data we are analyzing is in row-based format (structured data), so experience with pandas and numpy is required and SQL is highly desirable * Data analysis: Skills in basic statistical analysis on row-based data and classical ML techniques (e.g., those in scikit-learn) are highly desirable * Domain knowledge: Interest and/or coursework in planetary science or atmospheric science is desirable * Data visualization: Some experience with matplotlib or geospatial data visualization tools is desirable to help in figure generation for conferences and/or papers
Location / Safety:	Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: .
Programs:	This AO can be done under the following programs:   Program    Available To        SURF@JPL    Caltech students only  Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.