Altitude profiles of potential energy E_p averaged over three latitude intervals for the period of the GDS of MY34 (L_s=188°–250°, red profiles) and the corresponding low-dust period of MY35 (blue profiles). The colored regions around the profiles show the standard error of the mean. White regions indicate altitudes where the difference between the means was determined with statistical confidence (with a significance level of 95%, according to the Student’s t-test).