Martian Thermospheric Warming Associated With the Planet Encircling Dust Event of 2018

Abstract

We report the first observations of Martian thermospheric warming associated with the Planet Encircling Dust Event (PEDE) of 2018. We used dayglow observations made by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument aboard the MAVEN spacecraft to retrieve the upper atmosphere temperature structures. Our analysis shows that the two-cell meridional circulation pattern may be operating before the PEDE-2018, which resulted in the cooling of lower/middle latitudes and warming at higher latitudes. However, after the onset, the existing circulation pattern gets dampened, resulted in a weaker latitudinal temperature structure. We saw that mean temperatures rose by about 20 K for the same local time after the onset of the dust storm. Our 3-D Mars General Ionosphere Thermosphere Model calculations were able to reproduce the temperatures during the predust and early dust storm but failed to fully capture the temperature trend during the growth phase of the PEDE of 2018. ©2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.