Limb Retrievals of the martian atmosphere: Mapping with optical observations from MGS/TES and MRO/MCS.

Limb observations in the optical regime represent a vastly underutilized resource for studies of the Martian atmosphere. In an effort to rectify this situation, our presentation will attempt to provide the framework for an interested individual to identify a data set of potential interest, access said data and associated metadata products, and obtain a radiative transfer tool that would enable the appropriate analyses. More specifically, we will highlight the coverage and capabilities of the optical limb observations from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS). We will also present several radiative transfer algorithms that may be employed to interpret the various data sets. Finally, we will highlight several applications of the limb observations including mapping of dust vertical profile characteristics, detached layers, and particle size retrievals. This last example employs the simultaneous use of infrared limb observations from both the TES and MCS data. This work is (and has been) supported by NASA with a Mars Data Analysis Program award (grant NNX10AO23G).