Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 3 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5702, pp. 1753 - 1756
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104474
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Atmospheric Imaging Results from the Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity

M. T. Lemmon,1* M. J. Wolff,2 M. D. Smith,3 R. T. Clancy,2 D. Banfield,4 G. A. Landis,5 A. Ghosh,3 P. H. Smith,6 N. Spanovich,6 B. Whitney,2 P. Whelley,7 R. Greeley,7 S. Thompson,7 J. F. Bell, III,4 S. W. Squyres4

A visible atmospheric optical depth of 0.9 was measured by the Spirit rover at Gusev crater and by the Opportunity rover at Meridiani Planum. Optical depth decreased by about 0.6 to 0.7% per sol through both 90-sol primary missions. The vertical distribution of atmospheric dust at Gusev crater was consistent with uniform mixing, with a measured scale height of 11.56 ± 0.62 kilometers. The dust's cross section weighted mean radius was 1.47 ± 0.21 micrometers (mm) at Gusev and 1.52 ± 0.18 mm at Meridiani. Comparison of visible optical depths with 9-mm optical depths shows a visible-to-infrared optical depth ratio of 2.0 ± 0.2 for comparison with previous monitoring of infrared optical depths.

1 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
2 Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
4 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
5 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA.
6 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
7 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lemmon{at}tamu.edu

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)