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B.J. Conrath (Cornell Univ), J.C. Pearl, M.D. Smith (NASA GSFC), P.R. Christensen (Arizona State Univ., Tempe)
The majority of spectra from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) carried on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are obtained in the nadir-viewing mode; however, a pointing mirror permits some measurements to also be acquired while viewing the forward and aft limbs with the 2x3 detector array. Inversion of nadir measurements in the 15-micron CO2 band allows determination of temperature profiles from the planetary surface up to about 0.3 mbar (a nominal height of 30 km), while the limb data provide profiles up to approximately 0.01 mbar (65 km) with a vertical resolution better than one pressure scale height. During the aerobraking and science phasing orbits, a limited number of profiles were obtained from limb data, mostly at high northern latitudes near periapsis when adequate vertical resolution on the limb was possible. During the mapping phase of the mission, currently underway, limb retrievals are obtained approximately every 10 degrees of latitude on each orbit. Analyses of the limb profiles are presented with emphasis on the zonal mean structure, the winter polar front and associated polar vortex, the thermal response of the atmosphere to dust loading, and the horizontal and vertical wave structure. The implications of the results for dynamical processes are discussed.