GALE WINDS. Using TES data, a cross-section of Mars'
atmosphere from the south pole (left) to the north pole (right) shows
in the upper panel the warm atmosphere (red colors) in the south as
southern summer begins. (It's still pretty chilly: 240 kelvins is -27 degrees
Fahrenheit.) The lower panel shows a high-speed jet (red colors) has
developed in the north at the same time. It has winds greater than 160
meters per second (365 miles per hour). Click on the image to download
a larger version (1 MB). NASA/JPL/Arizona State University
Smith, M. D., J. C. Pearl, B. J. Conrath, and P. R. Christensen, One Martian year of atmospheric observations by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer, Geophys. Res. Letters, 28, 4263-4266, 2001.
Smith, M. D., Interannual variability in TES atmospheric observations of Mars during 1999-2003, Icarus, 167, 148-165, 2004.