Ozone and carbon dioxide heating in the martian atmosphere.

Abstract Recent high-resolution infrared spectroscopic investigations by Kaplan, Munch and Spinrad (1964) have resulted in estimates of the surface pressure and atmospheric composition of the planet Mars which differ considerably from those previously given. In the light of these findings, the radiative equilibrium temperature structure of the atmosphere of the planet has been re-examined. The absorption of solar energy in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible by O2 and O3 and in the near infrared (IR) by CO2 has been included in the calculation of atmospheric heating. The transmission functions of CO2 were theoretically calculated making use of a “statistical” model for band absorption. These transmission functions were then used to evaluate the absorption of solar energy in the near IR and to investigate the radiative transfer in the far IR. The theoretical band parameters, involving the line intensity and the mean ratio of line half-width to line spacing, were derived using the transmittance tables of CO2 p...