How wind circulates in Mars' upper atmosphere

摘要

High above the surface of Mars, winds swirl from dayside to night, and the air undulates as it passes over mountains and valleys far below. These insights come courtesy of NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which has provided the first detailed maps of winds in the Martian thermosphere, one of the highest layers of the planet's atmosphere. The data, described in the Dec. 13 Science, could help researchers understand how the Martian climate has changed over time by looking into how its atmosphere bleeds into space.