Martian atmospheric disturbances from orbital images and surface pressure at Jezero Crater, Mars, during Martian Year 36

Abstract

We present a study of atmospheric disturbances at Jezero Crater, Mars, using ground-based measurements of surface pressure by the Perseverance rover in combination with orbital images from the Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. The study starts at Ls $\sim$ 13.3° in MY36 (March 6th, 2021) and extends up to Ls $\sim$ 30.3° in MY37 (February 28th, 2023). We focus on the characterization of the major atmospheric phenomena at synoptic and planetary-scales. These are the thermal tides (measured up to the sixth component), long-period pressure oscillations (periods > 1 sol), the Aphelion Cloud Belt, and the occasional development of regional dust storms over Jezero. We present the seasonal evolution of the amplitudes and phases of the thermal tides and their relation with the atmospheric dust content (optical depth). Three regional dust storms and one polar storm extending over Jezero produced an increase in the diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes but resulted in inverse responses in their phases. We show that the primary regular wave activity is due to baroclinic disturbances with periods of 2-4 sols and amplitudes $\sim$ 1-15 Pa increasing with dust content, in good agreement with theoretical predictions by model calculations. The spacecraft images show a number of arc-shaped, spiral and irregular cyclonic vortices, traced by dust and clouds at the edge of the North Polar Cap, that could be behind some of the pressure oscillations measured at Jezero.

References in corpus (10)

• Eight-year Climatology of Dust Optical Depth on Mars
• Dust aerosol, clouds, and the atmospheric optical depth record over 5 Mars years of the Mars Exploration Rover mission
• Mars 2020 Perseverance rover studies of the Martian atmosphere over Jezero from pressure measurements
• Eddy evolution during large dust storms
• The 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm over the South Polar Region studied with MEx/VMC
• An Extremely Elongated Cloud over Arsia Mons Volcano on Mars: I. Life Cycle
• Characterisation of Martian dust aerosol phase function from sky radiance measurements by MSL engineering cameras
• High-Order harmonics of Thermal Tides observed in the atmosphere of Mars by the Pressure Sensor on the Insight lander
• Dynamical phenomena in the Martian atmosphere through Mars Express imaging
• The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express: a new science instrument made from an old webcam orbiting Mars