Annual Evolution of Water Vapor at Jezero Crater Based on Observations and Modeling
Abstract Annual and diurnal water cycles at Jezero crater on Mars are analyzed during the first 1,000 sols of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover's mission ( L s 44 MY36–163 MY37). The primary data source is the MEDA‐HS relative humidity (RH) sensor, which operates at 1.5 m above the surface. Nocturnal RH observations are used to calibrate an adsorptive single column model (SCM), which then reconstructs the full diurnal water vapor cycle and its vertical distribution. Our modeling work focuses on locations where the rover remained stationary or within a small area for an extended period of time, thus ensuring stable soil properties and allowing for more robust averaging over multiple sols. The SCM effectively reproduces the observation‐based nighttime water vapor amounts at the modeled locations. The precipitable water columns (PWC) estimated by the SCM, when adjusted to the MEDA near‐surface observations, align in 85% of tested cases within 10% of the satellite data. Both SCM simulations and MEDA‐HS observations produce an annual water vapor peak around L s 150– L s 160, consistent with results from a Martian global climate model for the Jezero region. Additionally, local topography appears to influence near‐surface water vapor levels, suggesting that terrain effects should be considered when modeling the diurnal cycle in heterogeneous landscapes.
Authors
- M. T. Lemmon
- Tanguy Bertrand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2302-9776)
- L. K. Tamppari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-6375)
- J. A. Rodríguez‐Manfredi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0461-9815)
- Agustín Sánchez-Lavega (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7234-7634)
- Mark Paton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9655-3755)
- Daniel Viúdez‐Moreiras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8442-3788)
- Felipe Gómez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9977-7060)
- Manuel de la Torre Juárez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1393-5297)
- R. Hueso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0169-123X)
- Hannu Savijärvi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7563-0360)
- Asier Munguira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1677-6327)
- Ari‐Matti Harri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8541-2802)
- Maria Hieta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5429-0395)
- Iina Jaakonaho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7343-5556)
- Jouni Polkko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6927-1368)
- María‐Paz Zorzano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4492-9650)
- M. D. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7601-1158)
- Joonas Leino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3669-9875)
- Jorge Pla‐García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8047-3937)
- Germán Martínez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5885-236X)
- Timothy McConnochie
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
- Space Science Institute (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- University of the Basque Country (ES)
- Observatoire de Paris (FR)
- Centro de Astrobiología (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Planets
- Published
- 2025-10-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2025je009124
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Planetary Science and Exploration
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.46