The diverse meteorology of Jezero crater over the first 250 sols of Perseverance on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer is collecting data at Jezero crater, characterizing the physical processes in the lowest layer of the Martian atmosphere. Here we present measurements from the instrument’s first 250 sols of operation, revealing a spatially and temporally variable meteorology at Jezero. We find that temperature measurements at four heights capture the response of the atmospheric surface layer to multiple phenomena. We observe the transition from a stable night-time thermal inversion to a daytime, highly turbulent convective regime, with large vertical thermal gradients. Measurement of multiple daily optical depths suggests aerosol concentrations are higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Measured wind patterns are driven mainly by local topography, with a small contribution from regional winds. Daily and seasonal variability of relative humidity shows a complex hydrologic cycle. These observations suggest that changes in some local surface properties, such as surface albedo and thermal inertia, play an influential role. On a larger scale, surface pressure measurements show typical signatures of gravity waves and baroclinic eddies in a part of the seasonal cycle previously characterized as low wave activity. These observations, both combined and simultaneous, unveil the diversity of processes driving change on today’s Martian surface at Jezero crater.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the projects no. ESP2014-54256-C4- 1-R (also -2-R, -3-R and -4-R); Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, projects no. ESP2016-79612-C3-1-R (also -2-R and -3-R); Ministry of Science and Innovation/State Agency of Research (10.13039/501100011033), projects no. ESP2016-80320-C2-1-R, RTI2018-098728-B-C31 (also -C32 and -C33), RTI2018-099825-B-C31, PID2019-109467GB-I00 and PRE2020-092562; Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial; Ministry of Science and Innovation’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology; Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”—Centro de Astrobiología; Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1366- 19; and European Research Council Consolidator Grant no 818602. The US co-authors performed their work under sponsorship from NASA’s Mars 2020 project, from the Game Changing Development programme within the Space Technology Mission Directorate and from the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate. Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). G.M. acknowledges JPL funding from USRA Contract Number 1638782. A.G.F. is supported by the European Research Council, Consolidator Grant no. 818602.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Expected atmospheric environment for the Phoenix landing season and location

The Phoenix mission, launched on 4 August 2007, landed in the far northern plains of Mars on 25 May 2008. In order to prepare for the landing events and the 90-sol mission, a significant amount of work has gone into characterizing the atmospheric environment at this location on Mars for northern late spring through midsummer. In this paper we describe the motivation for the work and present our results on atmospheric densities and winds expected during the Phoenix entry, descent, and landing, as well as near-surface pressure, temperature, winds, surface temperature, and visible optical depth expected over the course of the science missio

Observing Mars from Areostationary Orbit: Benefits and Applications

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Toward More Realistic Simulation and Prediction of Dust Storms on Mars

Global dust storms have major implications for the past and present climate, geologic history, habitability, and future exploration of Mars. Yet their mysterious origins mean we remain unable to realistically simulate or predict them. We identify four key Knowledge Gaps and make four Recommendations to make progress in the next decade

High Resolution Surface Science at Mars

The proposed mission would place a 2.4 m telescope in orbit around Mars with two focal plane instruments to obtain the highest resolution images and spectral maps of the surface to date (3-10x better than current). This investigation would make major contributions to all of the Mars Program Goals: life, climate, geology and preparation for human presence

Dust Devil Tracks and Wind Streaks in the North Polar Region of Mars: A Study of the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander Sites

The 65-72 latitude band of the North Polar Region of Mars, where the 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander will land, was studied using satellite images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera Narrow-Angle (MOC-NA) camera. Dust devil tracks (DDT) and wind streaks (WS) were observed and recorded as surface evidence for winds. No active dust devils (DDs) were observed. 162 MOC-NA images, 10.3% of total images, contained DDT/WS. Phoenix landing Region C (295-315W) had the highest concentration of images containing DDT/WS per number of available images (20.9%); Region D (130-150W) had the lowest (3.5%). DDT and WS direction were recorded for Phoenix landing regions A (110-130W), B (240-260W), and C to infer local wind direction. Region A showed dominant northwest-southeast DDT/WS, Region B showed dominant north-south, east-west and northeast-southwest DDT/WS, and region C showed dominant west/northwest - east/southeast DDT/ WS. Results indicate the 2007 Phoenix Lander has the highest probability of landing near DDT/WS in landing Region C. Based on DDT/WS linearity, we infer Phoenix would likely encounter directionally consistent background wind in any of the three regions

Retrieval of wind, temperature, water vapor and other trace constituents in the Martian Atmosphere

International audienceAtmospheric limb sounding is a well-established technique for measuring atmospheric temperature, composition, and wind. The theoretical capabilities of a submillimeter limb sounder placed in low Mars orbit are quantified, with a particular focus on the ability to make profile measurements of line-of-sight wind, temperature, water vapor, deuterated water vapor, several isotopes of carbon monoxide, oxygen-18 carbon dioxide, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide. We identify cases where all such measurements can be made within a single 25-70 GHz wide region of the submillimeter spectrum, enabling use of a single state-of-the-art submillimeter receiver. Six potential spectral regions, approximately centered at 335 GHz, 450 GHz, 550 GHz, 900 GHz, 1000 GHz, and 1130 GHz are found, any one of which can provide a complete measurement suite. The expected precision and vertical resolution of temperature, composition, and wind measurements from instruments in each range are quantified. This work thus follows on from that of Urban et al. (2005), Kasai et al. (2012), and earlier studies, expanding them to consider many alternative observing frequency regions. In general, performance (in terms of measurement precision and vertical resolution) is improved with increasing observation frequency. In part this is due to our choice to assume the same antenna size for each frequency, thus providing a narrower field of view for the higher frequency configurations. The general increase in emission line strengths with increasing frequency also contributes to this improved performance in some cases. However, increased instrument power needs for the higher frequency configurations may argue against their choice in some mission scenarios

Atmospheric investigations with M2020 Perseverance/SuperCam

International audienceThe M2020 Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February of 2021, with the main objective of studying the geological and astrobiological context of Jezero crater, collect samples for return to Earth, and prepare for human exploration [1]. To support these main objectives, time is also allocated for atmospheric research, some of which is being conducted with the SuperCam instrument suite. SuperCam includes spectrometers operating in both active and passive modes, and can be used to study the Martian atmosphere passively in several wavelength ranges [2]. In this work we have used the infrared channel, covering the 1.3-2.6 micrometer range, to obtain abundances of CO2 and H2O, as well as upper limits of CO. The SuperCam passive spectroscopic atmospheric observations, dubbed "Passive Sky" measurements, are performed by pointing the camera into the sky at two distinct elevation angles, acquiring multiple spectra at each angle, and finding the average spectrum at each angle before taking the ratio of the low elevation angle spectrum to the high elevation angle spectrum. This technique was introduced with ChemCam on the MSL Curiosity rover, and is a proven technique to effectively remove the solar spectrum and instrument components in the signal [3]. The main target gas of SuperCam Passive Sky measurements is water vapor. The water vapor vertical distribution is of great interest as it is indicative of dynamical processes in the Martian atmosphere, and is key to understanding atmospheric escape [4]. In addition, variations in the very near-surface abundance can suggest the degree of interaction between the regolith and atmosphere [5]. Knowledge of the vertical profile has increased substantially in the recent decade as the use of stellar and solar occultation measurements have become available at Mars [6], yet the near surface distribution remains elusive. Observations from the Martian surface can play an important role in constraining the near-surface water content and thus aid in completing the picture of the vertical distribution of water vapor on Mars. Around 60 Passive Sky observations have been processed; these are roughly uniformly distributed and span one Martian Year. The first results of gaseous abundances and dust properties retrieved with the IR channel are presented here. [1] Farley et al 2020 [2] Maurice et al 2021 [3] McConnochie et al 2017 [4] Fedorova et al 2020 [5] Martinez et al 2017 [6] Aoki et al 202

Atmospheric investigations with M2020 Perseverance/SuperCam

International audienceThe M2020 Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February of 2021, with the main objective of studying the geological and astrobiological context of Jezero crater, collect samples for return to Earth, and prepare for human exploration [1]. To support these main objectives, time is also allocated for atmospheric research, some of which is being conducted with the SuperCam instrument suite. SuperCam includes spectrometers operating in both active and passive modes, and can be used to study the Martian atmosphere passively in several wavelength ranges [2]. In this work we have used the infrared channel, covering the 1.3-2.6 micrometer range, to obtain abundances of CO2 and H2O, as well as upper limits of CO. The SuperCam passive spectroscopic atmospheric observations, dubbed "Passive Sky" measurements, are performed by pointing the camera into the sky at two distinct elevation angles, acquiring multiple spectra at each angle, and finding the average spectrum at each angle before taking the ratio of the low elevation angle spectrum to the high elevation angle spectrum. This technique was introduced with ChemCam on the MSL Curiosity rover, and is a proven technique to effectively remove the solar spectrum and instrument components in the signal [3]. The main target gas of SuperCam Passive Sky measurements is water vapor. The water vapor vertical distribution is of great interest as it is indicative of dynamical processes in the Martian atmosphere, and is key to understanding atmospheric escape [4]. In addition, variations in the very near-surface abundance can suggest the degree of interaction between the regolith and atmosphere [5]. Knowledge of the vertical profile has increased substantially in the recent decade as the use of stellar and solar occultation measurements have become available at Mars [6], yet the near surface distribution remains elusive. Observations from the Martian surface can play an important role in constraining the near-surface water content and thus aid in completing the picture of the vertical distribution of water vapor on Mars. Around 60 Passive Sky observations have been processed; these are roughly uniformly distributed and span one Martian Year. The first results of gaseous abundances and dust properties retrieved with the IR channel are presented here. [1] Farley et al 2020 [2] Maurice et al 2021 [3] McConnochie et al 2017 [4] Fedorova et al 2020 [5] Martinez et al 2017 [6] Aoki et al 202