Spectral Analysis of the Martian Atmospheric Turbulence: InSight Observations

In this study, we perform spectral analysis of Martian near-surface turbulence using the in-situ observations by NASA's InSight lander on Mars. A recent study on the daytime Martian boundary layer using the InSight observations showed that the conventional Kolmogorov energy cascade of inertial subrange fails to predict the spectral density of pressure (Banfield et al., 2020, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0544-y). Here we extend this by investigating diurnal and seasonal variations in the spectral density of pressure, as the indicator of the Martian atmospheric turbulence. We show distinct spectral behaviors for the daytime and nighttime conditions. Moreover, we report the important effects of regional dust storms, gravity waves (GWs), bore, and solitary waves on the turbulent energy cascade. Our results show that the presence of a dust storm and GW activity can enhance the turbulence of the nighttime boundary layer of Mars despite the extreme stably stratified conditions compared to the terrestrial case.