Abstract
The lower atmosphere of Mars exists below 100 km, where gases are mixed and eddy diffusion is dominant. It is characterized by a strong coupling between pressure, temperature, neutral density and winds. MGS and MEX have observed temperature, pressure and total density in the lower atmosphere of Mars with radio occultation experiment (Bougher et al. in Geophys Res Lett 28:3091–3094, 2001; Hinson et al. in J Geophys Res Planets 104:26997–27012, 1999; Pätzold et al. in Science 310:837–839, 2005). The neutral winds are mapped at 150 km by NGIMS onboard MAVEN to study the wind circulation and climatology of Mars (Benna et al. in Science 366:1363–1366, 2019). The troposphere occurs in the lower atmosphere between 0 and 50 km. The diurnal temperature variability is high at the surface due to low thermal inertia. During dust storm the suspended dust particles can reduce the surface diurnal temperature. There is no stratosphere in the lower atmosphere of Mars due to lack of ozone in the middle atmosphere. The Mars has mesosphere between 50 and 100 km above the troposphere. The lapse rates are lower in the mesosphere than the troposphere.
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Haider, S.A. (2023). Lower Atmosphere of Mars. In: Aeronomy of Mars. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 469. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3138-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3138-5_18
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