Mars landers pressure records observe contemporaneous changes in atmospheric composition, dust, and meridional circulation

Mars landers pressure records observe contemporaneous changes in atmospheric composition, dust, and meridional circulation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Mars landers pressure records observe contemporaneous changes in atmospheric composition, dust, and meridional circulation Manuel de la Torre Juárez, Scott Guzewich, Emily Mason, Joseph Battalio, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6813748/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Five years of surface pressure data collected by the Mars rover Curiosity’s Environmental Monitoring Station experienced a recurrent short-lived drop of the daily pressure means, unrelated to dust activity, sudden temperature anomalies, or to pressure signatures of Mars polar CO2 cycle. This drop coincides with the time where models predict Mars Meridional Circulation to split into two cells as it switches from the northward to the southward direction. The pressure drop happened at Gale crater and at the locations of two other Mars stations, InSight and Perseverance. The different sols where the pressure drops occurred at each location follow a latitudinal time sequence consistent with the propagation of the upwelling branch for the Meridional Circulation split predicted by models and with changes in composition trends observed for atmospheric CH4, Ar, O2, and H2O. These pressure drops provide a unique surface observation to track year-to-year differences in Mars meridional atmospheric transport. Earth and environmental sciences/Planetary science/Inner planets Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Atmospheric dynamics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6813748","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":469260481,"identity":"eb4b2b68-5dda-4b24-9ecf-b118460411e2","order_by":0,"name":"Manuel de la Torre 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