Journal
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS
Volume 120, Issue 5, Pages 913-927Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2015JE004802
Keywords
Mars thermosphere; general circulation; CO(2)cooling; gravity waves
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Funding
- German Science Foundation (DFG) [ME2752/3-1]
- CSIC
- European Social Fund
- Spanish MICINN [CSD2009-00038, AYA2011-23552/ESP]
- NASA [NNX13AO36G]
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Observations show that the lower thermosphere of Mars (approximate to 100-140km) is up to 40K colder than the current general circulation models (GCMs) can reproduce. Possible candidates for physical processes missing in the models are larger abundances of atomic oxygen facilitating stronger CO2 radiative cooling and thermal effects of gravity waves. Using two state-of-the-art Martian GCMs, the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique and Max Planck Institute models that self-consistently cover the atmosphere from the surface to the thermosphere, these physical mechanisms are investigated. Simulations demonstrate that the CO2 radiative cooling with a sufficiently large atomic oxygen abundance and the gravity wave-induced cooling can alone result in up to 40K colder temperature in the lower thermosphere. Accounting for both mechanisms produce stronger cooling at high latitudes. However, radiative cooling effects peak above the mesopause, while gravity wave cooling rates continuously increase with height. Although both mechanisms act simultaneously, these peculiarities could help to further quantify their relative contributions from future observations.
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