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Witasse et al. 2001
Witasse, O., Nouvel, J.-F., Lebreton, J.-P. and Kofman, W. (2001). HF radio wave attenuation due to a meteoric layer in the atmosphere of Mars. Geophysical Research Letters 28: doi: 10.1029/2001GL013164. issn: 0094-8276.

In the atmosphere of Mars, the effect of an ionospheric layer of meteoric origin on an HF radio wave propagation is investigated. We consider the putative magnesium ion layer which results from the ablation of sporadic meteors from a work recently published. To account for day-night variability, two electron profiles are considered in an altitude range around 80 km. First we argue that there may be some observational evidence of this magnesium layer in early Mars observations that were not noticed before. Then we study the effect of this ionospheric layer on the attenuation of HF waves. For a propagation path through the ionosphere as envisaged for HF subsurface sounding on future Mars missions, the one-way attenuation may range from up to 360 dB's at 1.8 MHz and up to 18 dB's at 9 MHz. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Planetology, Solar System Objects, Mars, Radio Science, Radio wave propagation
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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