The InSight lander has been on the surface of Mars for about a year, and a half dozen papers were just published outlining some results from the mission. Though InSight’s primary mission is to gather evidence on the interior of Mars—InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport—the lander also keeps track of Martian Meteorology. A new paper reports that InSight has found gravity waves, swirling dust devils, and a steady background rumble of infrasound.
These new results are published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Lead author is Don Banfield from Cornell University. The paper is titled “The atmosphere of Mars as observed by InSight.”
InSight’s primary science instruments are designed to probe the interior structure of Mars. They include the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), and the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE). But another suite of instruments, called the Auxiliary Payload Sensor Suite (APSS), measures the temperature, wind, atmospheric pressure and magnetic field near the lander.
Altogether the APSS is a weather station—and more—that gives daily weather reports from its location on Mars.
The latest weather reports from Mars according to the InSight lander. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/CAB
Some of the findings are not necessarily that surprising. The daily temperature and pressure fluctuations are more pronounced on Mars than on Earth. “The atmosphere is so thin that it can heat up and cool down much faster than on Earth,” said lead author Banfield in a press release.
But according to the science team, the discovery of gravity waves (not gravitational waves) was a surprise. Gravity waves are generated in a fluid, which in physics includes atmospheric gases, when those fluids are out of equilibrium. As the fluid seeks equilibrium, the waves are propagated.
On Earth gravity waves can create distinct cloud forms called wave clouds. There are still questions about Martian gravity waves. “We’re still working to understand what these waves can teach us about Mars,” Banfield said. In their paper the researchers said they discovered “unexpected similarities between atmospheric turbulence on Earth and Mars.”
Wave clouds over Wisconsin in the United States. Image Credit: By Mr. Glen Talbot – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wave_clouds.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1325699
“It’s still mysterious as to exactly what causes the signals we’ve heard, but we’ll keep studying.”
don Banfield, Lead Author
The researchers also discovered what’s known as infrasound on Mars, something that they expected to find. Infrasound is a low-frequency rumble that’s outside the range of human hearing, below 10 Hertz. “We expected infrasound would exist, but this is the first direct measurement,” Banfield said. “It’s still mysterious as to exactly what causes the signals we’ve heard, but we’ll keep studying.”
InSight also sensed thousands of dust devils during its first year, though none were ever seen by the lander’s cameras. “We have seen the pressure signature of thousands of dust devils, and we have tried to take images at the right times of day,” Banfield said. “We’ve caught absolutely no dust devils on camera. Other landers have more effortlessly imaged dust devils, so it’s surprising that we haven’t even captured an image of one.”
“This site has more whirlwinds than any other place we’ve landed on Mars while carrying weather sensors,” said Aymeric Spiga, an atmospheric scientist at Sorbonne University in Paris.
Overall, the APSS is giving scientists the opportunity to study up close an atmosphere other than Earth’s. Orbiters and other landers have watched the Martian atmosphere, but InSight is giving us our most continuous and accurate sampling of atmospheric conditions on the red planet. In their paper, the team of researchers states that InSight “extends our understanding of Mars’s meteorology at all scales.”
Not only do the lander’s instruments take frequent measurements of conditions at its locale, but it also sat through a large dust storm shortly after it reached Mars. These large storms occur frequently on Mars, sometimes becoming truly global storms.
True color image of a storm front located near Utopia Planitia, near the northern polar ice cap of Mars. Credit: Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Mars is much drier than Earth, obviously. On Earth the moisture in the atmosphere plays a large role. On Mars, it’s the dust that plays a significant role. The airborne dust has an oversize impact on Mars’ thin, sunlight controlled atmosphere. The dust contributes to gravity wave features near the surface, though the researchers don’t have a clear picture of how it all works yet.
Mars researchers are excited by InSight’s capabilities and results so far. Though other satellite-based research has looked at the upper atmosphere for extended periods of time, InSight is the first ground level, in-situ, long-lasting measuring station for the Martian atmosphere. InSight’s APSS measurements not only supplement orbital measurements, but the data can serve to help prove or disprove models of the Martian atmosphere.
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InSight has also detected airglow and noctilucent clouds at Mars, both of which are upper atmosphere phenomena. Along with the gravity waves, the unseen dust devils, and the infrasound, that’s a treasure trove of data for the lander’s first year.
With about one more year to go in the mission, who knows what else the lander will unearth? Especially if the HP3 starts working.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
