Dust in the Martian atmosphere: Polarimetric sensing

Telescopic optical polarimetry over the planet Mars enables us to detect and localize scatterers in the Martian atmosphere. Polarization discriminates between crystal clouds and dust particles. For dust grains, sizes can be derived. There is an increase in size from very small grains forming the permanent dust haze to sub-micrometer size grains for the local dust veils and the several micrometer size pieces found in the dust storm clouds. From all these polarimetric results, an overview emerges about the behavior of dust particles in the Martian atmosphere.