The near-surface wind patterns as observed by NASA’s Mars 2020 Mission at Jezero Crater, Mars

<p>NASA&#8217;s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater (~18.4&#186;N, 77.6&#186;E) on February 2021 at L_s~5&#186;, just after the northern spring equinox. Perseverance carries the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument [1], which includes a wind sensor that is a heritage from previous sensors sent to Mars as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and InSight missions. Those sensors allowed the characterization of the near-surface wind patterns at Gale Crater [2] and Elysium Planitia [3,4]. The wind sensor of MEDA is allowing near-surface wind patterns to be characterized at Perseverance&#8217;s landing site, thus complementing the data acquired by previous missions on the surface of Mars.</p><p>Previous missions at different locations on the Martian surface observed a contribution by several mechanisms from different scales involved in the near-surface winds, including the effect of local and regional slope winds induced by topography, thermal tides, baroclinic waves and the Hadley cell, each one with a variable weight on the resulting wind patterns as a function of location, season and the presence of dust storms (e.g. [2-4] and references therein). The near-surface wind data acquired by Mars 2020 show a complex dynamics at Jezero Crater, as predicted by models (e.g. [5]). Preliminary interpretation suggests that the diurnal cycle of winds is dominated by the regional circulation mainly forced by slope winds in the Isidis basin region, which interact with the local scale circulation at Jezero and Hadley cell flows. The potential contribution by these mechanisms on the resulting wind patterns measured at Mars2020&#8217;s landing site will be presented, with a further focus on the observed wind variability supported by probabilistic models.</p><p>&#160;</p><p>References:</p><p>[1] Rodriguez-Manfredi et al. (2021), SSR, 217(48). [2] Vi&#250;dez-Moreiras et al. (2019), Icarus, 319, 909-925. [3] Banfield et al. (2020), Nat.Geo, 13, 190-198. [4] Vi&#250;dez-Moreiras et al. (2020) JGR-Planets, 125, e2020JE006493. [5] Newman et al. (2021) SSR, 217(20).</p>