A distinct material isolation and pole-to-pole teleconnection on Mars

Global-scale circulation dominates material transport in planetary atmospheres, which is thought to account for large-scale compositional homogeneities on Earth and other planets. However, observations of the Martian atmosphere challenge this picture. The mixing ratios of dust and gas species (H ₂ O, CO, Ar) show large planetary-scale inhomogeneities, yet the mechanism has been consistently overlooked. Here, we reveal and present that the coherent structure of the single-cell Hadley circulation on Mars can produce a distinct material transport pattern. It poses strong dynamical barriers that prevent material mixing, along with a special pole-to-pole teleconnection. Lagrangian particle tracking with reanalysis data suggests that the materials are isolated inside and outside the Hadley cell in the Martian atmosphere while connected between the two poles. Dimensional analysis indicates the reason to be a combined effect of the rapid planetary rotation and the thin atmosphere of Mars. The dominance of the mean circulation over the eddy transport gives rise to this unique transport regime, which is fundamentally distinct from those on Earth and Venus. This finding challenges the conventional view of material mixing of planetary-scale circulations, and presents a perspective of planetary atmospheric dynamics that confines materials and restricts redistributions.