Scientists create map of wind circulation on the upper atmosphere of Mars

New Delhi : Taking note from the data provided by NASA's Maven spacecraft, the researchers have developed a map of wind circulation on the upper atmosphere of Mars.

With the new map, it will become easier for the scientists to determine the climate on the red planet, resulting in much better understanding of the evolution on the planet.

“The observed global circulation provides critical inputs needed to constrain global atmospheric models,” said Mehdi Benna of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“These are the same models that are used to extrapolate the state of the Martian climate into the distant past,” added Benna in the first paper published in the journal Science.

On September 21, MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission) celebrated its fifth anniversary of its entry into the Mars orbit.

One of the prime aims of the mission is to determine several factors on Mars that made it an inhabitable planet as it looks today.

“The winds observed in the Martian upper atmosphere are sometimes similar to what we see in global model simulations, but other times can be quite different,” said Kali Roeten of University of Michigan. 

“These winds can also be highly variable on the timescale of hours, yet in other cases, are consistent throughout the observation period," said Roeten in the second paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets.