Thermal Tides and Stationary Waves Revealed by MGS TES

Atmospheric temperature retrievals from TES observed radiances make possible the most complete separation of the constituent wave modes evident in Mars atmosphere to date. We use all of the data from the pre-mapping mission phase, which affords good sampling of the diurnal tides and stationary waves. TES retrievals of atmospheric temperature on a grid of pressure levels are the fundamental data set in this study. We then fit this data to selected fourier modes in longitude and time for latitude and L(sub s) bins. From this we have identified the amplitudes and phases of the diurnal and semi-diurnal tides, the first few (gravest) stationary waves and standing waves, as well as an estimate of the zonal and time mean temperature meridional cross sections. These results will be compared with existing models and theory. A possible critical layer for the sun-synchronous diurnal tide may indicate 40 m/s surface zonal wind near 50S for L(sub s) =255-285. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.