The oblateness effect on the mean seasonal daily insolations at the martian surface during global dust storms

In this short paper, the combined effect of global dust storms and the oblateness on the mean seasonal daily insolations at the Martian surface is investigated. Due to the flattening, the mean summertime insolation is increased at equatorial and low latitudes, decreased at mid- and high latitudes. When comparing a spherical with an oblate planet Mars, it is found that the percentage differences of the mean summer daily insolations are dependent upon the optical depths () considered. For an atmosphere without aerosols, the maximum percentage differences are respectively equal to + 0.05 and – 0.2%; at = 3.0 the corresponding values amount to about 0.1 and 2%. In winter, the mean daily insolations are decreased over the entire latitudinal interval, where the maximum values are found at polar region latitudes; at e.g. a latitude of 85 the loss of solar energy enhances from 2 ( = 0.0) to more than 30% ( = 3.0). The mean annual daily insolation is maximally reduced by about 0.5 and 2% for optical thicknesses of 0.0 and 3.0, respectively.