Tag Archives: dust

Lightning on Mars is probably rare and weak

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Gerhard Wurm and four co-authors recently published in Icarus.] A Challenge for Martian Lightning: Limits of Collisional Charging at Low Pressure • Collision experiments on identical grains show a strong dependence of charging on … Continue reading

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HiRISE: A frosted surface

This is the first of a new monitoring series to track seasonal processes. It is also a striking image with late winter angled illumination over dunes covered by carbon dioxide frost mixed with dust. Dark spots may be where sand … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, April 22-28, 2019

For the past week on Mars, numerous local-scale dust storms of varied size occurred along the southern highlands — below 50° S. latitude. Looking to the northern hemisphere, dust-lifting activity was more sporadic. A couple of arcuate (bow-shaped) dust storms … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, April 15-21, 2019

Conditions poleward of 58° S were dusty as local storms continued to crop-up along the mid- to high-latitudes of Mars last week. Looking to the northern lowlands, a couple of long arcuate-shaped dust storms pressed southward over Acidalia near the … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, April 8-14, 2019

Weather patterns were fairly typical across Mars this past week. Looking to the northern hemisphere, a couple of dust storms dipped southward towards southern Acidalia. Neighboring these events, a local-scale storm occurred over Tempe Terra near the beginning of the … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, April 1-7, 2019

There was a slight uptick in dust storm activity across the southern highlands of Mars this past week. Repeated dust storms were spotted from southern Aonia to Cimmeria on several afternoons. Scanning further northward to the tropics, orographic water ice … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, March 25-31, 2019

For the past week on Mars, transient dust storms and water ice clouds continued to develop along the seasonal north polar ice cap edge. Just a bit further south, a couple fleeting dust storms were spotted extending southward across Acidalia … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, March 18-24, 2019

Northern hemisphere spring arrived along with southern hemisphere autumn this past week on Mars. Southern Aonia experienced dusty conditions as repeated dust-lifting activity continued in the 60° south latitude band. Moving our attention towards the low-latitudes, a stronger presence of … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, March 11-17, 2019

Last week on Mars, dust-lifting events continued over southern Aonia and Sirenum. The eastward movement of these storms lofted dust into the Argyre impact basin on multiple sols. The Hellas impact basin, on the other hand, was largely unobscured from … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, March 4-10, 2019

Dust-lifting activity continued in localized regions in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars this past week. Looking to the ancient southern highlands, local-scale dust storms propagated eastward from Sirenum to Aonia. Southern Noachis Terra also encountered a few … Continue reading

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