Gravity Wave Observations by the Mars Science Laboratory REMS Pressure
Sensor and Comparison with Mesoscale Atmospheric Modeling with MarsWRF
Abstract
Surface pressure measurements on Mars have revealed a wide variety of
atmospheric phenomena. The Mars Science Laboratory Rover Environmental
Monitoring Station pressure sensor dataset is now the longest duration
record of surface pressure on Mars. We use the first 2580 martian sols
of measurements to identify atmospheric pressure waves with periods of
tens of minutes to hours using wavelet analysis on residual pressure
after the tidal harmonics are removed. We find these waves have a clear
diurnal cycle with strongest activity in the early morning and late
evening and a seasonal cycle with the strongest waves in the second half
of the martian year (Ls = 180-360°). The strongest such
waves of the entire mission occurred during the Mars Year 34 global dust
storm. Comparable atmospheric waves are identified using atmospheric
modeling with the MarsWRF general circulation model in a “nested” high
spatial resolution mode. With the support of the modeling, we find these
waves best fit the expected properties of inertia-gravity waves with
horizontal wavelengths of O(100s) of km.