NASA Mars orbiters reveal the different seasonal patterns and changes on Mars, revealing three types of large regional dust storms that possess the same sequence during spring and summer in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet.

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According to lead author of the study and instrument scientist for the Mars Climate Sounder on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, David Kass from  NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, there is confirmed regularity on these large dust storms occurring in Mars, based on temperature structures obtained from orbiter data.
Kass explains that this pattern recognition of regional dust storms is a major step forward in understanding the atmospheric properties of Mars.

Martian winds carry dust that is directly linked to atmospheric temperature, as this dust absorbs sunlight which means that dusty air is warmer than clear air. Temperature differences can even reach more than 63 degrees Fahrenheit between the dusty air and clear air. This heating can also affect the global wind distribution on Mars that produces a downward movement that also heats the air outside the dusty regions, resulting in dust storms.

NASA has been monitoring the Martian atmosphere since 1997 with the Mars Climate Sounder on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer on Mars Global Surveyor.

In this new study, the team analyzed the temperature data obtained from these orbiters, at a distance of 16 miles above the surface of Mars, to also detect and study regional and local storms.

Most Martian storms are local, which means they are smaller than 1,200 miles and disappears in a few days, however, some of them become regional, which can become so massive, affecting one third of the planet and lasts for as long as three weeks. Since 1997, there have also been two global dust storms that covered the entire Red Planet, where the behavior of global dust storms is still a mystery for scientists.

New findings reveal three large regional storms as types A, B and C that appeared in the past six Martian years. One year in Mars is about almost two years on Earth.

During fall, multiple smaller storms appear on the norther polar region of Mars. Kass says that some of these storms migrate down south where they reach the southern hemisphere in mid spring where they get warmer and explode into Type A dust storms.

A Type B storm on Mars on the other hand, originates from the southern polar region, before summer starts in the southern hemisphere. These winds are often generated by retreating carbon dioxide polar ice caps, as these storms contribute to a regional haze.

After a Type B storm ends, a Type C storm begins by originating from the north during the northern winter and moves into the southern hemisphere similar to a Type A storm where this type can possess more varying temperatures than A and B storms.

This new study can not only increase the understanding of the global weather and seasons on Mars but this can be also crucial in predicting hazardous dust storms that can affect robotic and human missions in the near future.

This new study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

TagsNASA mars orbiters, dust storms mars, seasonal dust storms mars, Mars, mars weather