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D. Banfield, B.J. Conrath (Cornell), M.D. Smith (GSFC), R.J. Wilson (GFDL)
We have analyzed the temperature retrievals from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) nadir spectra to yield latitude-height resolved maps of various atmospheric transient and forced wave modes as a function of season for more than a full Mars year. Interannual differences in the atmospheric thermal state and its wave modes, especially those caused by the dust storm during the summer of 2001, may be highlighted.
The diurnal Kelvin wave was isolated in the data, with results roughly consistent with models (Wilson and Hamilton, 1996). The s=1 and s=2 stationary waves were found to have significant amplitude in ducts extending up the winter polar jets, while the s=3 stationary wave was found to be confined to near the surface. The s=1 stationary wave was found to have little phase tilt with height during northern winter, but significant westward phase tilt with height in the southern winter. This indicates that the wave carries heat poleward, more than that found in Barnes et al. (1996). The s=1 stationary wave is likely the dominant mechanism for eddy meridional heat transport for the southern winter. The transient waves have significantly larger amplitude during northern winter than during southern winter, consistent with models (Barnes et al., 1993). Winter transient wave amplitudes of order \Delta T ~1-2K are found for m=1,2 in the south, while \Delta T ~2-8K are found in the north. Significant changes in several of the wave modes (i.e., diurnal tide, m=1 stationary wave, diurnal zonally symmetric tide, m<4 transient waves) have been identified during the summer 2001 dust storm.
This work was supported by the Mars Data Analysis Program.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: banfield@astro.cornell.edu