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On Mars too expect macroweather
Author(s) -
Lovejoy Shaun,
Muller J.P.,
Boisvert J. P.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061861
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , martian , atmosphere of mars , planet , astrobiology , terrestrial planet , spectral line , venus , flux (metallurgy) , physics , solar system , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , solar wind , geology , geophysics , astronomy , plasma , materials science , metallurgy , quantum mechanics
Terrestrial atmospheric and oceanic spectra show drastic transitions at τ w ≈ 10 days and τ ow ≈ 1 year, respectively; this has been theorized as the lifetime of planetary‐scale structures. For wind and temperature, the forms of the low‐ and high‐frequency parts of the spectra (macroweather and weather) as well as the τ w can be theoretically estimated, the latter depending notably on the solar‐induced turbulent energy flux. We extend the theory to other planets and test it using Viking lander and reanalysis data from Mars. When the Martian spectra are scaled by the theoretical amount, they agree very well with their terrestrial atmospheric counterparts. We discuss the implications for understanding planetary fluid dynamical systems.