ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE STUDIES OF MARS USING THE MARS-OBSERVER PRESSURE MODULATOR INFRARED RADIOMETER

Studies of the climate and atmosphere of Mars are limited at present by a lack of meteorological data having systematic global coverage with good horizontal and vertical resolution. The Mars Observer spacecraft in a low, nearly circular, polar orbit will provide an excellent platform for acquiring the data needed to advance significantly our understanding of the Martian atmosphere and its remarkable variability. The Mars Observer pressure modulator infrared radiometer (PMIRR) is a nine-channel limb and nadir scanning atmospheric sounder which will observe the atmosphere of Mars globally from 0 to 80 km for a full Martian year. PMIRR employs narrow-band radiometric channels and two pressure modulation cells to measure atmospheric and surface emission in the thermal infrared: a visible channel (0.39-4.7 mum) is used to measure solar radiation reflected from the atmosphere and surface. Vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, the infrared extinction of dust suspended in the atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor, and condensate hazes will be retrieved from infrared measurements having a vertical resolution of 5 km, which is half an atmospheric scale height. PMIRR infrared and visible measurements will be combined to determine the radiative balance of the polar regions, where a sizeable fraction of the global atmospheric mass annually condenses onto and sublimes from the surface. Derived meteorological fields, including diabatic heating and cooling and the vertical variation of horizontal winds, will be computed from the globally mapped fields retrieved from PMIRR data. Analyses of these observed and derived fields will address many key questions regarding the atmosphere and climate of Mars.