New wind data for the Mars atmospheric science community

A recent scientific paper obtains new wind data over altitudes of several kilometres at three locations on Mars by analysing images of how parachutes and heat shields have been scattered by the winds. The paper uses the new wind data to investigate the interactions of the Martian atmosphere with the terrain.

Image: Adobe Stock

Mars can be divided into two regions based on elevation; the southern highlands and the northern lowlands. The difference in elevation between the two regions is several kilometres. The boundary between the two regions is shown in green in the topographic map below.

Viking lander 1 landed back in 1976 close to the boundary region as shown in the map. While descending on its parachute it was blown by fast turbulent winds. These types of winds have not been encountered by subsequent landers. The authors were able to confirm the presence of these strong winds for Viking lander 1. They were also able to narrow down the vertical thickness of this wind layer. Understanding these winds is important as they may be evidence of the intensification of the atmospheric circulation into a narrow jet due to the presence of the extreme Martian topography. Confirmation and characterisation of these strong winds are important for helping to verify Martian climate models.

For InSight which landed in 2018 the paper confirms and builds on a previous analysis by the InSight team of a complex interaction between the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere and the Martian terrain. The paper also obtained wind data for the descent of Viking lander 2 and found the lander descended through some relatively slow and stable air compared to Viking lander 1.

Topographic map of Mars showing the lowlands (blue), boundary region (green) and the highlands (orange-red) together with the locations of the Viking 1, Viking 2 and InSight landers that were subjects of the study. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The paper has provided important ‘ground truth’ wind data for the Martian climate science community, generated new knowledge about Mars and helped develop our atmospheric column model for Mars.

More information:

Research scientist Mark Paton, tel. 0504302984, mark.paton@fmi.fi

Paton, M., Leino, J., Harri, A.-M. and Savijärvi, H., Martian boundary layer wind profiles during the landings of Viking and InSight, Icarus, 367, 114581 (2021)

Link to the scientific paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103521002505

Landing year for Viking lander 1 corrected from 1977 to 1976 at 09:50 2.7.2021.

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