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The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) z -axis accelerometer has obtained over 200 vertical structures of thermospheric density, temperature, and pressure, ranging from 110 to 170 kilometers, compared to only three previous such vertical structures. In November 1997, a regional dust storm in the Southern Hemisphere triggered an unexpectedly large thermospheric response at mid-northern latitudes, increasing the altitude of thermospheric pressure surfaces there by as much as 8 kilometers and indicating a strong global thermospheric response to a regional dust storm. Throughout the MGS mission, thermospheric density bulges have been detected on opposite sides of the planet near 90°E and 90°W, in the vicinity of maximum terrain heights. This wave 2 pattern may be caused by topographically-forced planetary waves propagating up from the lower atmosphere.

For use in various wind engineering applications (e.g. wind energy conversion, wind loads on structures, air pollution transport) it is desirable to have a consistent relationship by which to project height variations of both "instantaneous" (e.g. few minute average) winds and parameters of the wind speed probability distribution. The power law V2/V1 = (Z2/Z1)n is often used for height projection of wind profiles, with the exponent n sometimes taken as depending on surface conditions or on atmospheric stability. The power law profile for wind speed is shown here to be consistent with observed height variation of Weibull wind speed probability distribution functions which have been found to fit observed wind speed distributions (at least above relevant threshold wind speeds). For consistency between the wind speed profiles and the height variation of the Weibull wind speed probability distributions, it is necessary only that the exponent n vary as n = a + b ℓn V1, where a and b are constants whose values depend on the reference height at which wind speed V1 is measured. For a reference height of 10 m, it is found that a = 0.37 and b = −0.0881 (with V1 in m/s) adequately describes both the observed height variation of wind speed and wind speed probability distributions.

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