Estimating the Heights of Martian Vortices from Mars 2020 MEDA Data

TL;DR

This paper analyzes data from Mars 2020 MEDA to detect and characterize martian vortices, estimating their heights and boundary layer dynamics, thereby enhancing understanding of martian atmospheric processes and vortex behavior.

Contribution

It provides a new catalog of vortex detections from later Mars 2020 mission sols and introduces a method to estimate vortex heights using combined pressure and temperature data.

Findings

More vortex encounters in the second half of the mission.

Estimated vortex heights show diurnal boundary layer variations.

Evidence of boundary layer growth and decay patterns.

Abstract

Small convective vortices occur ubiquitously on Mars, frequently as dust devils, and they produce detectable signals in meteorological data -- in pressure, temperature, and wind speed and direction. In addition to being important contributors to the martian dust budget, convective vortices may serve as probes of the boundary layer, providing clues on convective instability, boundary layer diurnal evolution, and surface-atmosphere interactions. Using vortices as boundary layer probes requires a detailed understanding of the link between their properties and occurrence rates and the conditions that produce them. Fortunately, the growing cache of data from the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument suite onboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover promises to elucidate these relationships. In this study, we present a catalog of vortex detections from mission sols 90 through 179 to bolster our previous catalog based on sols 15 through 89. Consistent with predictions, we find more vortex encounters during this second half of the mission than from the first half. In addition to analyzing the pressure signals from these vortex encounters, we also use a Gaussian process analysis to recover contemporaneous temperature signals. By combining these signals with a long-established thermodynamics model, we estimate heights of the vortices and find some agreement with previous work and evidence for the diurnal growth and decay of the martian boundary layer. We also discuss prospects for additional boundary layer studies using martian vortex encounters.