Thermal structure of Mars’ middle and upper atmospheres: Understanding the impacts of dynamics and solar forcing

Jain, Sonal; Soto, Emmaris; Evans, J. S.; Deighan, Justin; Schneider, Nicholas M.; Bougher, S. W.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114703

Cited by 21 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The analysis of the slope of the oxygen dayglow profile at 297.2 nm with MAVEN/IUVS by Jain et al (2021) discussed the temperature around ∼90-105 km and is thus not directly comparable to the present results. However, the suggested temperatures at ∼90-105 km are mostly between 120 and 160 K. These are significantly lower than the observed temperature at 80 km, which is consistent with the presence of the warm atmospheric layer.…”

Section: Temperature Variationcontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…(2020) and Jain et al. (2021) showed that OI dayglow at 297.2 nm taken with MAVEN/IUVS observations, another transition from O( 1 S) to O( 3 P), has a potential to monitor the seasonal variations of the density and temperature around 80 km.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the OI 557.7 nm dayglow is expected to be present at all of the latitudes/longitudes, this can be a powerful tracer to investigate density and temperature in the UMLT region. Indeed, Gkouvelis, Gérard, González-Galindo, et al (2020) and Jain et al (2021) showed that OI dayglow at 297.2 nm taken with MAVEN/IUVS observations, another transition from O( 1 S) to O( 3 P), has a potential to monitor the seasonal variations of the density and temperature around 80 km.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Density and Temperature of the Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Mars Retrieved From the OI 557.7 nm Dayglow Measured by TGO/NOMAD

et al. 2022

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The upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Mars (70–150 km) is of high interest because it is a region affected by climatological/meteorological events in the lower atmosphere and external solar forcing. However, only a few measurements are available at this altitude range. OI 557.7 nm dayglow emission has been detected at these altitudes by the limb observations with Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). We develop an inversion method to retrieve density and temperature at these altitudes from the OI 557.7 nm dayglow limb profiles. We demonstrate that the atmospheric density around 90 and 140 km and temperature around 80 km during the daytime can be retrieved from the TGO/NOMAD limb measurements. The retrieved densities show a large seasonal variation both around 90 and 140 km and reach maximum values around perihelion period. This can be explained by temperature variation in the lower atmosphere driven by the dust content and Sun‐Mars distance. Temperature around 80 km is higher than predicted by general circulation models, which is tentatively consistent with the warm atmospheric layer recently discovered in nighttime. The temperature retrieval relies on the temperature dependence of the quenching coefficient of 1S oxygen by CO2. Further validation of this coefficient in the range of the Mars upper atmosphere is needed for the verification of the retrieved high temperature.

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Section: Temperature Variationcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Density and Temperature of the Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Mars Retrieved From the OI 557.7 nm Dayglow Measured by TGO/NOMAD

et al. 2022

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“…This data set can be found in NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) at https://atmos.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/MAVEN/maven_ iuvs.html. As described in Jain et al (2021), to extract temperatures in the middle atmosphere (∼90-105 km) from the IUVS observations, Chapman fits are performed on the O I 297.2 nm emission and the scale height is determined. The authors fit the measured intensity to the integral of the volume emission rates which is parametrized as a Chapman profile by using a Levenberg-Marquardt least squares minimization algorithm.…”

Section: Iuvs Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Atmospheric Tides in the Middle and Upper Atmosphere of Mars From MAVEN and MRO

et al. 2022

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Variability in the Martian upper atmosphere is strongly linked to the lower atmosphere and much of it can be attributed to vertical wave propagation. Atmospheric tides in particular are a well‐known phenomenon in the Martian atmosphere that play a key role in the transport of energy as they propagate to higher altitudes. Previous theoretical predictions and observations suggest that tides producing wavenumber‐2 and wavenumber‐3 patterns are strongest in a fixed local time at high altitudes, however, the energy they carry and the region of deposition are not well characterized. Given the availability of atmospheric observations from several spacecraft at the same time, in this paper, the nature and behavior of tides are studied concurrently at several altitudes. Here, six intervals are identified focused at fixed low latitudes utilizing simultaneous observations of the middle and upper atmosphere from in situ and remote sensing instruments on different spacecraft. In the middle atmosphere, strong wavenumber‐2 signatures are identified in the intervals north of the equator whereas, in the south, wavenumber‐3 signatures are strongest. Wave signatures observed in the upper atmosphere seem to be dominated by a mix of wavenumbers‐2 and ‐3. Seasonal variation is observed in the northern intervals, with very little interannual variability in all intervals considered. Estimates of energy based on dominant wavenumber amplitude suggest that most of the energy dissipates below ∼90 km. Furthermore, model sampled output captures the dominant wavenumbers observed in the middle atmosphere as well as the energy dissipation characteristics.

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“…Two different scale heights are readily seen: One between 95 and 110 km of about 13 km and a second one about 20 km above 125 km. Using a Chapman fit (Gérard et al., 2020; Gkouvelis et al., 2018; 2020b), temperatures can be derived from those scale heights (Jain et al., 2021). The corresponding temperatures are 93 and 143 K respectively.…”

Section: Limb Profilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mars Oxygen Visible Dayglow: A Martian Year of NOMAD/UVIS Observations

et al. 2022

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The Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer Ultraviolet (UVIS UV) and Visible Spectrometer channel of the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery spectrometer aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has made limb observations of the Martian dayglow during more than a Martian year. Two pointing modes have been applied: (a) In the inertial mode, the spectrometer scans the atmosphere twice down to near the surface and provides altitude profiles of the dayglow; (b) in the tracking mode, the atmosphere is scanned at varying latitudes at a nearly constant altitude through the entire observation. We present a statistical study of the vertical and seasonal distribution of the recently discovered oxygen green and red lines at 557.7 nm and 630 nm. It indicates that the brightness of the green line emission responds to changes in the Lyman‐α flux. The peak altitude of the green line emission increases seasonally when the Sun‐Mars distance decreases. The lower peak of the green line statistically drops by 15–20 km between perihelion and aphelion at mid‐to high altitude. The main lower peak intensity shows an asymmetry between the two hemispheres. It is significantly brighter and more pronounced in the southern hemisphere than in the north. This is a consequence of the stronger Lyman‐α solar flux near perihelion. The second component of the oxygen red line at 636.4 nm is also detected for the first time in the Martian atmosphere. A photochemical model is used to simulate the variations of the green dayglow observed along limb tracking orbits.

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Thermal structure of Mars’ middle and upper atmospheres: Understanding the impacts of dynamics and solar forcing

Cited by 21 publications

References 38 publications

Density and Temperature of the Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Mars Retrieved From the OI 557.7 nm Dayglow Measured by TGO/NOMAD

Density and Temperature of the Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Mars Retrieved From the OI 557.7 nm Dayglow Measured by TGO/NOMAD

Observations of Atmospheric Tides in the Middle and Upper Atmosphere of Mars From MAVEN and MRO

The Mars Oxygen Visible Dayglow: A Martian Year of NOMAD/UVIS Observations

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