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Atmospheric thermal tides are planetary-scale harmonic responses driven by diurnal solar forcing and influenced by planetary topography. As results of solar heating absorbed directly by the atmosphere and exchanged with the surface, thermal tides in the Martian atmosphere usually have large amplitudes due to its low heat capacity, and dominate the diurnal temperature variations throughout the thin atmosphere. In this talk, I will overview the structure of the Martian atmosphere, and present the first results of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), with details focusing on the analysis of thermal tides and their seasonal variations using temperature profiles retrieved from infrared spectra obtained by the Emirates Mars InfraRed Spectrometer (EMIRS). Design of the high-altitude orbit of the spacecraft enables the analysis of diurnal temperature variation with a full local time coverage obtained within a short period of time. Wave mode decomposition is applied to these diurnal variations to derive the tide amplitudes and phases. The results show good agreements with predictions made by the Mars Planetary Climate Model (PCM), previously known as the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) Mars Global Circulation Model (GCM), except for decent differences in phases. This work provides valuable information on understanding physical processes in the Martian atmosphere on a diurnal scale.
Dr. Siteng Fan is an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at Southern University of Science and Technology. He received his B.S. in Space Science and Technology at Peking University in 2015, and Ph.D. in Planetary Science at California Institute of Technology in 2020, then worked as a postdoc at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and joined Southern University of Science and Technology in 2023. Siteng’s research focuses on planetary atmospheres, primarily the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere, including physical processes and the coupling among them, using observations (e.g., Trace Gas Orbiter and Emirate Mars Mission) and General Circulation models (e.g., Mars Planetary Climate Model). The research focus also includes the photochemistry and microphysical processes in chemically reducing planetary atmospheres (e.g., Pluto and Titan), and baseline analysis and inversion of single-point light curves of Earth-like exoplanets. Siteng was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Xie Yibing Young Scientist Award in Meteorological Science and Technology.