Studying the upper atmosphere of Mars

The upper atmosphere of Mars is currently being explored in unprecedented detail by two spacecraft simultaneously, Nasa's MAVEN mission and ESA's Mars Express mission. Both reveal a thin atmosphere composed primarily of CO2 and O, followed by nitrogen and other carbon based species. Furthermore, the Sun's radiation as well as energetic plasma from the plasma surrounding of Mars cause ionisation of the upper atmosphere, forming an ionosphere.
The PhD project will consist in a mixture of analysis of data from the MAVEN and Mars Express spacecraft as well as numerical simulations. The aim of the work is to understand the global structure (densities, temperatures) as well as periodicities (atmospheric waves) and seasonal, orbital as well as short term variability. Numerous atmosphere models have been developed for other planets, and the task of the PhD student would be to apply these to the Martian environment. Results for Mars will be compared and contrasted with Venus, Earth and Titan to gain a deeper understanding of what drives the boundary layer on Mars between atmosphere and space environment. Another potential topic for investigation is that of atmospheric escape, addressing the question of how and why Mars lost most of its atmosphere.