Improved Climatologies Of Lower And Middle Atmospheric
Gravity Wave Activity At Mars.
N.G. Heavens, Space Science Institute, Boulder, Co, Usa And London, Uk (Nheavens@Spacescience.Org), A.
Pankine, Space Science Institute, J.M. Battalio, Earth And Planetary Sciences, Yale University, C.J. Wright, Centre
For Space, Atmospheric And Oceanic Science, University Of Bath, D.M. Kass, A. Kleinboehl, S. Piqueux, Nasa Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, J.T. Schofield, Jpl, Retired.

Introduction
Atmospheric Gravity Waves (Gw) Are Excited By Impulses In The Atmospheric Circulation; Like The Movement
Of The Wind Over And Around Topography, Jet Stream Meanderings, And Convective Activity. [1, 2, 3]. Gw Transfer Energy And Momentum Through Stable Atmospheric
Regions And Thereby Couple Different Levels Of The Atmosphere Or Different Mesoscale Weather Systems [E.G., 4,
5, 6, 1, 7, 3]. In Mars’S Atmosphere, Gw Seem To Modulate The Intensity Of Middle Atmospheric Downwelling
Near The Poles, The Escape Of Constituents From The Upper
Atmosphere, And Even The Formation Of Mesoscale Cloud
Trails In The Middle Atmosphere [8, 9, 10].
Gw Processes Are Increasingly Parameterized Within
Mars General Circulation/Global Climate Models (Gcm)
[E.G., 11, 12, 13, 14, 8]. These Parameterizations Largely
Derive From Ones Originally Applied To And/Or Validated
At The Earth And Often Have Been Validated By Or Tuned