ON THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF DAYTIME SURFACE SENSIBLE HEAT-FLUX ON THE DISSIPATION OF MARTIAN COLD-AIR OUTBREAKS

The Martian daytime soil surface temperature is governed primarily by the net irradiance balance and surface soil heat flux. Thus the outbre ak of a cold air mass generates increased sensible heat flux that is c onducive to daytime dissipation of the cold air mass thermal character istics. Conceptual and scaling evaluations of this dissipation are pro vided while comparison is made with similar situations on Earth. It is estimated that sensible heat flux contribution to the dissipation of the original thermal structure of the cold air could be three limes la rger than the corresponding situation on Earth, Illustrative numerical model simulations provide scaling of the potential impact on the diss ipation of cold air masses for various combinations of background wind speed and latitudes.