Forbidden atomic oxygen emissions in the martian dayside upper atmosphere

A stringent upper limit to SO2 in the Martian atmosphere

Surfur-bearing molecules have been found at the surface of Mars by the Viking lander, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and the OMEGA infrared spectrometer aboard Mars Express. However, no gaseous sulfur-bearing species have ever been detected in the Martian atmosphere. We search for SO2 signatures in the thermal spectrum of Mars at 7.4 μm using the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TE...

Study of the Martian Upper Atmosphere using Radio Tracking Data

Since the first in situ observations of the Martian atmosphere were made by the twin Viking landers, we have learned considerably more about its composition, dynamics and variability. Not only did the new data on global atmospheric densities generate opportunities to understand the atmospheric composition of early Mars and supply constraints at the upper limit of General Circulation Models, it ...

Dayside temperatures in the Venus upper atmosphere from Venus Express/VIRTIS nadir measurements at 4.3 μm⋆

In this work, we analysed nadir observations of atmospheric infrared emissions carried out by VIRTIS, a high-resolution spectrometer on board the European spacecraft Venus Express. We focused on the ro-vibrational band of CO2 at 4.3 μm on the dayside, whose fluorescence originates in the Venus upper mesosphere and above. This is the first time that a systematic sounding of these non-local therm...

Energetic oxygen in the upper atmosphere and the laboratory.

Solar wind interaction with the Martian upper atmosphere: Roles of the variable 3D cold thermosphere and hot oxygen corona

We study the role of the variable 3D thermosphere and exosphere on the Martian ionospheric structure and ion escape rates in the process of the solar wind-Mars interaction. We employ a four-species multifluid MHD (MF-MHD) model to simulate the Martian ionosphere and magnetosphere. The cold thermosphere background is taken from the Mars Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (M-GITM) and the hot o...