Martian Ionospheric Variability from Mars Express and MAVEN Radio Occultations

The meteorology and climatology of the Martian atmosphere are significantly influenced by dust activity, particularly during southern spring and summer when dust content increases. This study investigates the inter-annual variability of the Martian ionosphere. Using radio occultation data from the Mars Express Radio Science experiment (MaRS) and the MAVEN Radio Occultation Science Experiment (ROSE), vertical atmospheric profiles are generated to analyse electron densities and the underlying neutral atmospheric temperatures.
Data processing is performed with the "radiocc" code developed at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, which converts Doppler residual data into vertical profiles for both the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere. This research provides a comprehensive comparison of ionospheric data across multiple Mars Years. Key electron density parameters are derived from occultation profiles to assess the influence of dust and solar activity on the Martian Ionosphere. In addition,  profile anomalies are identified as a function of location and time.