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Observations and Modeling of Thermal Structure in the Lower Atmosphere and the Upward Propagation of Tides into the ThermosphereThermal tides are the atmospheric response to diurnally varying thermal forcing resulting from radiative and convective heat transfer from the surface and from aerosol and gaseous heating within the atmosphere. Tides include sun-synchronous (migrating) waves driven in response to solar heating and additional non-migrating waves resulting from longitudinal variations in the distributions of topography, dust aerosol and water ice clouds. The systematic spatial mapping of temperature over 5 Mars years by the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) has yielded a well-defined climatology of seasonally-varying temperature structures in the lower atmosphere, from 5 to ~80 km. Tide theory and Mars global circulation model (MGCM) simulations are a fruitful framework for relating temperature observations to thermal forcing by aerosol fields [1]. The analysis of density and temperature fields derived from MAVEN IUVS and NGIMS observations have revealed the presence of predominantly zonal wave 2 and 3 features at altitudes of 100-170 km that are almost certainly non-migrating tides propagating upward from the lower atmosphere [2,3]. In this presentation we will use the MCS climatology and MGCM simulations to relate the density variations seen by MAVEN with the seasonally varying tide activity in the lower atmosphere. Large amplitude perturbations in density are most sensitive to the tide components with the longest vertical wavelengths in temperature, which are well resolved in MCS observations.
Document ID
20170009807
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Wilson, R. J. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Kahre, M. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
October 11, 2017
Publication Date
May 15, 2017
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN41020
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Mars Aeronomy 2017
Location: Boulder, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: May 15, 2017
End Date: May 19, 2017
Sponsors: Lunar and Planetary Inst., Universities Space Research Association
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Mars Climate Sounder (MCS)
Thermal tides

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