High-Order harmonics of Thermal Tides observed in the atmosphere of Mars by the Pressure Sensor on the Insight lander

Abstract

Thermal tides are atmospheric planetary-scale waves with periods that are harmonics of the solar day. In the Martian atmosphere thermal tides are known to be especially significant compared to any other known planet. Based on the data set of pressure timeseries produced by the InSight lander, which is unprecedented in terms of accuracy and temporal coverage, we investigate thermal tides on Mars and we find harmonics even beyond the number 24, which exceeds significantly the number of harmonics previously reported by other works. We explore comparatively the characteristics and seasonal evolution of tidal harmonics and find that even and odd harmonics exhibit some clearly differentiated trends that evolve seasonally and respond to dust events. High-order tidal harmonics with small amplitudes could transiently interfere constructively to produce meteorologically relevant patterns.

References in corpus (4)

• Eight-year Climatology of Dust Optical Depth on Mars
• Mars 2020 Perseverance rover studies of the Martian atmosphere over Jezero from pressure measurements
• InSight Pressure Data Recalibration, and Its Application to the Study of Long-Term Pressure Changes on Mars
• Thermal Tides in the Martian Atmosphere near Northern Summer Solstice Observed by ACS/TIRVIM onboard TGO

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Martian atmospheric disturbances from orbital images and surface pressure at Jezero Crater, Mars, during Martian Year 36
• Diurnal and Seasonal variations of Gravity Waves in the lower atmosphere of Mars as observed by Insight