A Multiannual Record of Gravity Wave Activity in Mars's Lower Atmosphere from On-Planet Observations by the Mars Climate Sounder.

ABSTRACT: Gravity waves in Mars's atmosphere strongly affect the general circulation as well as middle atmospheric cloud formation, but the climatology and sources of gravity waves in the lower atmosphere remain poorly understood. At Earth, the statistical variance in satellite observations of thermal emission above the instrumental noise floor has been used to enable measurement of gravity wave activity at a global scale. Here is presented an analysis of variance in calibrated radiance at 15.4 μm (635-665 cm-1) from off-nadir and nadir observations by the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO); a major expansion in the observational data available for validating models of Martian gravity wave activity. These observations are sensitive to gravity waves at 20-30 km alti

SUBMITTER: Heavens NG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7479752 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature