New observations of molecular nitrogen in the Martian upper atmosphere by IUVS on MAVEN

Airglow; Mars; MAVEN; Spectroscopy; Thermosphere; Ultraviolet; Ionosphere; Linear regression; NASA; Nitrogen; Regression analysis; Ultraviolet spectroscopy; Upper atmosphere

Abstract :

[en] We identify molecular nitrogen (N2) emissions in the Martian upper atmosphere using the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. We report the first observations of the N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) bands at Mars and confirm the tentative identification of the N2 Vegard-Kaplan (VK) bands. We retrieve N2 density profiles from the VK limb emissions and compare calculated limb radiances between 90 and 210km against both observations and predictions from a Mars general circulation model (GCM). Contrary to earlier analyses using other satellite data, we find that N2 abundances exceed GCM results by about a factor of 2 at 130km but are in agreement at 150km. The analysis and interpretation are enabled by a linear regression method used to extract components of UV spectra from IUVS limb observations. © 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Disciplines :

Space science, astronomy & astrophysics

Author, co-author :

Stevens, M. H.; Space Science Division Naval Research Laboratory Washington, District of Columbia USA

Evans, J. S.; Computational Physics, Inc. Springfield, Virginia USA

Schneider, N. M.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Stewart, A. I. F.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Deighan, J.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Jain, S. K.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Crismani, M.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Stiepen, Arnaud ; Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)

Chaffin, M. S.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

Mcclintock, W. E.; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado USA

More authors (7 more)

Language :

English

Title :

New observations of molecular nitrogen in the Martian upper atmosphere by IUVS on MAVEN

Publication date :

2015

Journal title :

Geophysical Research Letters

ISSN :

0094-8276

eISSN :

1944-8007

Publisher :

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 11 January 2016

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Bibliography

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