A Climate Database for the
Martian Atmosphere
C. Hourdin, F. Forget, R. Fournier,
F. Hourdin, F. Mathiot and O. Talagrand
Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du CNRS,
Université Paris 6, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
S.R. Lewis, and P.L. Read
University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory,
Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, U.K.
J.-P. Huot
European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
A database of statistics which describes the climate of Mars has been constructed by two european teams from Paris (LMD) and Oxford (AOPP), with the support of the European Space Agency (ESTEC TRP contract 11369/95/NL/JG). Data are direct outputs of multi-annual simulations performed with the General Circulation Models (GCM) developped jointly at these two laboratories. The models have been validated against the main features of the meteorology of Mars, as observed by spacecraft missions (Mariner 9, Viking, Mars Pathfinder). Primarily designed to provide information about the planetary environment for spacecraft designers (entry profiles in the atmosphere and environment near the surface), this database is also a most usefull tool for the scientific comunity. It is accessible through two interfaces. A fortran software gives access to one dimension profiles with a very sophisticated representation of variability. This version is distributed on a tape. A WWW interface has also been developped:
Variable | units | 2-D or 3-D |
CO2 ice cover | 1#1 | 2-D |
Surface emissivity | none | 2-D |
Surface temperature | K | 2-D |
Surface pressure | Pa | 2-D |
Atmospheric temperature | K | 3-D |
Zonal (east-west) wind | 2#2 | 3-D |
Meridional (north-south) wind | 2#2 | 3-D |
Atmospheric density | 3#3 | 3-D |
Boundary layer eddy kinetic energy | 4#4 | 3-D |