One Martian year of atmospheric observations using MER Mini-TES

Abstract

The Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) landed on the surface of Mars in January 2004. Thermal infrared spectra taken by the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) instrument on board each rover, collected in both the upward-looking and downward-looking geometries, has allowed for the retrieval of atmospheric temperatures between 1 and 2000 m above the surface, the column optical depth of dust, and the column abundance of water vapor for more than one full Martian year. During this period, Mini-TES has observed the annual cycle of temperature variations, the diurnal growth and decay of a near-surface highly superadiabatic layer, and random temperature fluctuations on a timescale of less than a minute. Mini-TES observations also record the timing, duration, and intensity of several local-scale and regional-scale dust storms and the annual variation of water vapor abundance at the two rover locations. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.