Interannual variations in Snow Albedo in McMurdo Crater, Mars

The cryosphere component is the most reliable and insightful indication of any planet’s climate change. We develop a novel approach to calculate the broadband albedo of Mars’ surface from imaging hyperspectral data. This study compares the surface albedo of snow-covered pixels of McMurdo crater, Mars and deduces the impact of Mars dust on the snow albedo and, thus, polar heat budget. The maximum and the minimum snow albedo values were the lowest for the Mars Year (MY) 34, indicating the effect of an intense dust storm event. The average snow albedo decreased from 0.45 in MY 32 to 0.4 in MY 33, 0.33 in MY 34, and then re-established to 0.4 in MY 35. This indicates the temporary and reversible behavior of dust deposition, owing to self-cleaning mechanisms (local aeolian process and ices sublimation/deposition cycle).