Using imagery from the Mars Science Laboratory mission to understand wind properties of aerosols aloft

Since landing in 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL, Curiosity) has been investigating local aerosols through atmospheric imagery taken by its onboard Navigation Cameras (NCAMs). In particular, a Zenith Movie (ZM), is a vertically pointed 8-frame movie that is used to classify meteorological wind direction based on aerosol movement within the frames. Several Mars Year (MY) worth of data have been analyzed and found repeatable wind directions year-to-year. Water-ice clouds in the Aphelion season had strong Easterly winds, which agrees with modelling that shows a strong cross-equatorial Hadley cell in this season. The Perihelion season did not show any strong directions, which was attributed to the chaotic motion seen in dust clouds expected during this season. When compared to the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) onboard MSL, wind directions from the ZMs did not agree with REMS results. This mismatch between REMS and ZM wind results indicates that aerosols observed in imagery are most likely well above the crater rather than at the surface where REMS is located. • Atmospheric movies taken by the Mars Science Laboratory are used for meteorological wind direction measurements using aerosol movement. • A strong Easterly wind was found during the Aphelion Cloud Belt season pointing towards Hadley cell circulation. • We compare our results to the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station to determine if winds are within the crater or aloft.