Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p54b..01f&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P54B-01
Physics
[3369] Atmospheric Processes / Thermospheric Dynamics, [5704] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Atmospheres
Scientific paper
A terminator wave (TW) was recently discovered in neutral densities measured near 400 km altitude in Earth's thermosphere, and the salient features were simulated in a terrestrial GCM. Although analagous data are not available at Mars, this result prompted us to search for a TW in a high-resolution GCM for Mars. Indeed, a significant TW is found that shares many features with its terrestrial counterpart: In the horizontal plane at 160 km the wave fronts follow the westward-moving dusk terminator, exhibit a horizontal wavelength of order 900-1800 km, and are oriented about 10-30 deg with respect to the terminator. The disturbance originates in the lower atmosphere due to dust absorption of solar radiation, propagates upward with an effective vertical wavelength of order 60 km, and increases in amplitude as the assumed dust distribution extends further away from the surface. The TW density amplitudes for low and elevated dust layers (both with opacities = 1.0) are of order ±15-20% and ±30% at 160 km. Temperature and wind perturbations for the former case are of order ±10-20K and ±30-75 m/s.
Forbes Jeffrey M.
Moudden Yassir
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