The infrared photometric function of Mars and its bolometric albedo

The photometric properties of local areas on Mars are studied using Minnaert's rule of surface scattering to analyze Mariner 6 and 7 Infrared Spectrometer data. Several bright deserts, Hellas, and the south polar cap are found to obey Minnaert's function well. The coefficients B₀(α, λ) and k(α, λ) are obtained at α = 39, 48, 56, 84° and λ = 1.85, 2.23, 3.50 μm. Observed bright regions all have similar values of k, except for Hellas and the south polar cap. The lower k of Hellas is apparently caused by microscopic effects rather than by large-scale roughness due to cratering. The higher k of the cap is similar to terrestrial snows in the visual at the same phase angle. Using existing Earth-based observations, at smaller α and λ, a bolometric Bond albedo of $\text{A}{}^1\text{= 0.24 ± 0.05}$ is calculated.