First atmospheric science results from the Mars exploration rovers Mini-TES

Science

Volumn 306, Issue 5702, 2004, Pages 1750-1753

  Smith, Michael D ^a   Wolff, Michael J ^b   Lemmon, Mark T ^c   Spanovich, Nicole ^d   Banfield, Don ^e   Budney, Charles J ^f   Clancy, R Todd ^b   Ghosh, Amitabha ^a   Landis, Geoffrey A ^g   Smith, Peter ^d   Whitney, Barbara ^b   Christensen, Philip R ^h   Squyres, Steven W ^e  

^a NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER   (United States)

^b Center for Extrasolar Planetary Systems   (United States)

^c TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

^e Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

^f CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^g NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

^h ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS; BOUNDARY LAYERS; DUST; INFRARED RADIATION; SPECTROMETERS;

OPTICAL DEPTH; SUPERADIABATIC LAYERS; THERMAL EMISSION SPECTROMETERS (TES); THERMAL STRUCTURE;

MARTIAN SURFACE ANALYSIS;

AIR TEMPERATURE; ATMOSPHERE; DIURNAL VARIATION; MARS; PLANETARY ATMOSPHERE; THERMAL STRUCTURE;

AEROSOL; AIR; AIR TEMPERATURE; ARTICLE; ASTRONOMY; ATMOSPHERE; CIRCADIAN RHYTHM; COLD; DUST; HEAT; INFRARED SPECTROMETRY; MINIATURE THERMAL EMISSION SPECTROMETER; NIGHT; OPTICS; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SCIENCE; SPECTROMETER; STRUCTURE ANALYSIS; SURFACE PROPERTY; TIME;

ALGORITHMS; ATMOSPHERE; CARBON DIOXIDE; EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT; MARS; SEASONS; SPECTRUM ANALYSIS; TEMPERATURE; WATER;

EMMELICHTHYIDAE;

EID: 9944266187     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104257     Document Type: Article

References (17)

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2. J. T. Schofield et al., Science 278, 1752 (1997).
3. A martian solar day has a mean period of 24 hours 39 min 35.244 s and is referred to as a sol to distinguish this from a roughly 3% shorter solar day on Earth.
4. s values of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° correspond to the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox, and winter solstice, respectively.
5. P. R. Christensen et al., J. Geophys. Res. 108, 8064 (2003); http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003JE002117.
6. M. D. Smith, B. J. Conrath, J. C. Pearl, E. A. Ustinov, Icarus 124, 586 (1996).
7. 2 above the rover.
8. The term martian soil is used here to denote any loose, unconsolidated materials that can be distinguished from rocks, bedrock, or strongly cohesive sediments. No implication of the presence or absence of organic materials or living matter is intended.
9. M. J. Wolff, R. T. Clancy, J. Geophys. Res. 108, 5097 (2003); http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003JE002057.
10. M. D. Smith, J. C. Pearl, B. J. Conrath, P. R. Christensen, J. Geophys. Res. 105, 9539 (2000).
11. B. J. Conrath et al., J. Geophys. Res. 105, 9509 (2000).
12. M. D. Smith, J. Geophys. Res. 107, 5115 (2002); http://dx.doi.org/10. 1029/2001JE001522.
13. M. D. Smith, Icarus 167, 148 (2004).
14. J. R. Murphy, S. Nelli, Geophys. Res. Lett. 29, 2103 (2002); http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2002GL015214.
15. TES observations showed a large regional storm in mid-December 2003. The highest dust opacities during the active part of the storm were at low southern latitudes between 0° and 60°W longitude (just west of the Opportunity landing site). The dust storm began to dissipate by the last week of December 2003. and by mid-January 2004 there was little longitudinal variation in dust optical depth remaining.
16. Spirit landed in Gusev Crater near 14.5°S, 184.5°W, whereas Opportunity landed on Meridiani Planum near 2°S, 6°W.
17. This work was funded through the Mars Exploration Rovers project We would like to thank all the scientists, engineers, and programmers who made the Mini-TES observations described here possible.