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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astronomical Journal

Seasonal Variations over the Zhurong Plume-disturbed Zone Indicate Modern Dust Transport in Utopia Planitia, Mars

  • Zhibin Li1
  • Jianjun Liu1,2
  • Wei Yan1,2
  • Renhao Tian1,2
  • Qing Zhang3
  • Zhaopeng Chen4
  • Wangli Chen1,2
  • Yuhang Liu1,2
  • Jingjing Zhang1,2
  • Mengjia Gao1,2
  • Qiang Fu1
  • Jia Wang5
7 more authors
  • Dafei Li5
  • Jie Dong6
  • Xinbo Zhu7
  • Pan Xie7
  • Jiawei Li8
  • Rongwei He9
  • Chunlai Li1,2
9 affiliations
  1. 1Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  3. 3Sun Yat-sen University
  4. 4The University of Hong Kong
  5. 5Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
  6. 6Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering
  7. 7Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering
  8. 8Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center
  9. 9China Academy of Space Technology
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Dust activity is critical to the modern Martian climate system and drives episodic material exchange between the surface and atmosphere. Characterizing this exchange requires numerical modeling and coordinated in situ and orbital observations, which improve constraints on atmospheric processes and support robotic mission safety. We performed reflectance cross calibration between the Tianwen-1 HiRIC and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE datasets to track surface changes disturbed by landing plume effects across 2 Martian yr after the Zhurong rover’s arrival. Observations show surface reflectance rapidly recovered to prelanding conditions within the first Martian year, followed by a moderate dust-cleaning event in the subsequent spring. We conclude that the site undergoes significant dust accumulation starting in late northern summer, paired with springtime dust removal driven by convective vortices. This combined pattern of dust exchange differs from records at earlier landing sites, demonstrating substantial spatial variability in modern local dust activity across Mars.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{li2026seasonal,
  title = {{Seasonal Variations over the Zhurong Plume-disturbed Zone Indicate Modern Dust Transport in Utopia Planitia, Mars}},
  author = {Zhibin Li and Jianjun Liu and Wei Yan and Renhao Tian and Qing Zhang and Zhaopeng Chen and Wangli Chen and Yuhang Liu and Jingjing Zhang and Mengjia Gao and Qiang Fu and Jia Wang and Dafei Li and Jie Dong and Xinbo Zhu and Pan Xie and Jiawei Li and Rongwei He and Chunlai Li},
  journal = {The Astronomical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-3881/aeb125},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeb125},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Seasonal Variations over the Zhurong Plume-disturbed Zone Indicate Modern Dust Transport in Utopia Planitia, Mars
AU  - Zhibin Li
AU  - Jianjun Liu
AU  - Wei Yan
AU  - Renhao Tian
AU  - Qing Zhang
AU  - Zhaopeng Chen
AU  - Wangli Chen
AU  - Yuhang Liu
AU  - Jingjing Zhang
AU  - Mengjia Gao
AU  - Qiang Fu
AU  - Jia Wang
AU  - Dafei Li
AU  - Jie Dong
AU  - Xinbo Zhu
AU  - Pan Xie
AU  - Jiawei Li
AU  - Rongwei He
AU  - Chunlai Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/03
JO  - The Astronomical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-3881/aeb125
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeb125
AB  - Dust activity is critical to the modern Martian climate system and drives episodic material exchange between the surface and atmosphere. Characterizing this exchange requires numerical modeling and coordinated in situ and orbital observations, which improve constraints on atmospheric processes and support robotic mission safety. We performed reflectance cross calibration between the Tianwen-1 HiRIC and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE datasets to track surface changes disturbed by landing plume effects across 2 Martian yr after the Zhurong rover’s arrival. Observations show surface reflectance rapidly recovered to prelanding conditions within the first Martian year, followed by a moderate dust-cleaning event in the subsequent spring. We conclude that the site undergoes significant dust accumulation starting in late northern summer, paired with springtime dust removal driven by convective vortices. This combined pattern of dust exchange differs from records at earlier landing sites, demonstrating substantial spatial variability in modern local dust activity across Mars.
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
ER  -