FFSM Analyses of MGS TES Atmospheric Data: The MER Mission Period

The MER Landers touched down on Mars in the late northern winter season of the third MGS mapping year, at areocentric longitude dates of 328 and 339 degrees. The Mars atmosphere was highly active dynamically at this time, with strong transient eddy activity present in the northern hemisphere and substantial regional dust storm activity occuring in both hemispheres shortly before the landings took place. Fast Fourier Synoptic Mapping (FFSM) analyses of the MGS TES atmospheric data permit these fields to be mapped synoptically (two maps per sol), utilizing the full space-time resolution of the data without any averaging or smoothing of the data. We have made use of FFSM analyses to examine the TES atmospheric observations for the late 2003-2004 time period, and the results of these studies will be presented and discussed. The atmospheric state during this period will be placed in the context of previous and following seasonal periods, and will be compared with the same seasonal period in the prior two MGS mapping years.