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Science 3 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5702, pp. 1753 - 1756
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104474
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Reports

Atmospheric Imaging Results from the Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity

M. T. Lemmon,1* M. J. Wolff,2 M. D. Smith,3 R. T. Clancy,2 D. Banfield,4 G. A. Landis,5 A. Ghosh,3 P. H. Smith,6 N. Spanovich,6 B. Whitney,2 P. Whelley,7 R. Greeley,7 S. Thompson,7 J. F. Bell, III,4 S. W. Squyres4

A visible atmospheric optical depth of 0.9 was measured by the Spirit rover at Gusev crater and by the Opportunity rover at Meridiani Planum. Optical depth decreased by about 0.6 to 0.7% per sol through both 90-sol primary missions. The vertical distribution of atmospheric dust at Gusev crater was consistent with uniform mixing, with a measured scale height of 11.56 ± 0.62 kilometers. The dust's cross section weighted mean radius was 1.47 ± 0.21 micrometers (mm) at Gusev and 1.52 ± 0.18 mm at Meridiani. Comparison of visible optical depths with 9-mm optical depths shows a visible-to-infrared optical depth ratio of 2.0 ± 0.2 for comparison with previous monitoring of infrared optical depths.

1 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
2 Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
4 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
5 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA.
6 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
7 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lemmon{at}tamu.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Opportunity Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars.
S. W. Squyres, R. E. Arvidson, J. F. Bell III, J. Bruckner, N. A. Cabrol, W. Calvin, M. H. Carr, P. R. Christensen, B. C. Clark, L. Crumpler, et al. (2004)
Science 306, 1698-1703
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Pancam Multispectral Imaging Results from the Opportunity Rover at Meridiani Planum.
J. F. Bell III, S. W. Squyres, R. E. Arvidson, H. M. Arneson, D. Bass, W. Calvin, W. H. Farrand, W. Goetz, M. Golombek, R. Greeley, et al. (2004)
Science 306, 1703-1709
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