Martian Equatorial Atmospheric Tides From Surface Observations

Diurnal solar radiation causes global oscillations in pressure, temperature, and wind fields, known as atmospheric tides, which are further modified by topography, surface properties, and atmospheric dust loading. Hence, the tides are a combination of sun-synchronous and non sun-synchronous tides that propagate around the planet both eastward and westward. In the Martian tropics, atmospheric tides dominate daily pressure variations on the surface. Therefore, surface observing platforms are extremely useful for detailed analysis of atmospheric tides. In this investigation, we analyze diurnal and semi-diurnal components of atmospheric surface pressure measured by the simultaneously operating InSight and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) payloads. We utilize observations of the time period from Martian year (MY) 34 solar longitude 296 degrees to MY 36 solar longitude 53 degrees. The diurnal tide average amplitude is 17 Pa with an average phase of 03:39 local true solar time (LTST), while the semi-diurnal tide average amplitude and phase are 7 Pa and 09:34 LTST for the InSight. The corresponding values for the MSL are 33 Pa with 04:25 LTST for the diurnal and 10 Pa with 09:36 LTST for the semi-diurnal component. Thermo-topographic lateral hydrostatic adjustment flow generated by topography causes the higher diurnal amplitude observed by MSL. Both platforms observe a similar response between these harmonic components and dust loading. Furthermore, amplitudes obtained from a Mars Climate Database mimic the observations well. Our study provides for the first time a comparison of atmospheric tides at two simultaneously observing tropical surface platforms for more than 1 MY.

Automated summary

Diurnal solar radiation leads to global oscillations in pressure, temperature, and wind fields, known as atmospheric tides, which are further influenced by topography, surface properties, and atmospheric dust loading. Analyzing the diurnal and semi-diurnal components of atmospheric surface pressure on Mars provides insights into the characteristics and variations of atmospheric tides.