Submillimeter Wave Sounder for the Japanese Mars Mission (MELOS)

Details Submillimeter Wave Sounder for the Japanese Mars Mission (MELOS) Submillimeter Wave Sounder for the Japanese Mars Mission (MELOS)

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p13b1274k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P13B-1274

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[5405] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Atmospheres, [5445] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Meteorology, [5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [5494] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

The Submillimeter wave (SMM) sounder is proposed as an instrument onboard the meteorological orbiter of the next Japanese Mars exploration mission (MELOS). Characteristics of the SMM sounder are the observations of wind, temperature, CO, water vapor and its isotopes, minor radical species such as H2O2 and HO2. Many potential contributions to the Martian science are expected from the measurements: for example, the understanding of the Martian atmospheric circulation regime, the water cycle and variable hygropause, isotopic fractionation including HDO/H2O, photochemistry in the middle atmosphere, and thermophysical properties of the surface layer. By employing both limb and nadir observations from the elliptic orbit, the SMM sounder will achieve high vertical resolution in the wind, temperature and water vapor observations by pointing to several tangential heights in the limb observing geometry, as well as the horizontal mapping with temporal variation of minor molecules. Since the dust and ice cloud are almost transparent at submillimeter wavelengths, the SMM sounder can provide observational data without being affected by the dust distribution. The draft design of the instrument is dual frequency receivers of 500 and 600 or 800 GHz in order to observe at least two water vapor lines, including the ground state 110 - 101 transition at 556.9 GHz, with different line strengths. Combination of the observations of weak and strong opacity lines enables us to measure the H2O abundance in a wide range of the altitudes: from the surface to more than 100 km. This study will optimize the instrumental design by examining its scientific performance with the observation simulations. We also discuss the scientific significances of the planned observations in collaboration with the studies using general circulation models (GCMs) for the Martian atmosphere.

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