First Atmosphere Science Results from the Mars Exploration Rovers Mini-TES.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Smith, Michael D.; Wolff, Michael J.; Lemmon, Mark T.; Spanovich, Nicole; Banfield, Don; Budney, Charles J.; Todd Clancy, R.; Ghosh, Amitabha; Landis, Geoffrey A.; Smith, Peter; Whitney, Barbara; Christensen, Philip R.; Squyres, Steven W.
- Source
- Science. 12/3/2004, Vol. 306 Issue 5702, p1750-1753. 4p. 6 Graphs.
- Subject
- *ASTRONOMY
*INFRARED spectra
*SPECTROMETERS
*ATMOSPHERIC temperature
*ATMOSPHERIC boundary layer
*DIURNAL variations in meteorology
- Language
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
Thermal infrared spectra of the martian atmosphere taken by the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) were used to determine the atmospheric temperatures in the planetary boundary layer and the column-integrated optical depth of aerosols. Mini-TES observations show the diurnal variation of the martian boundary layer thermal structure, including a near-surface superadiabatic layer during the afternoon and an inversion layer at night. Upward-looking Mini-TES observations show warm and cool parcels of air moving through the Mini-TES field of view on a time scale of 30 seconds. The retrieved dust optical depth shows a downward trend at both sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]