Tag Archives: atmosphere

MARCI weather report, February 3-9, 2014

Posted on February 13, 2014 by rburnham

Dust-raising activity occurred along the perennial northern cap edge in Tempe and Acidalia as well as in Utopia. Local dust storm activity was also observed in Ophir Planum north of Valles Marineris. Diffuse water ice clouds were present over the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

MARCI weather report, January 27-February 2, 2014

Posted on February 6, 2014 by rburnham

Dust storm activity occurred daily along the perennial northern cap edge north of Tempe, with suspended dust being transported southeastward into Acidalia. In the south, a transient local dust storm was observed northwest of Candor Chasma in central Valles Marineris. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars Color Imager (MARCI) weather report, January 20-26, 2014

Posted on February 3, 2014 by rburnham

This past week, dust storm activity was prominent along the perennial north polar cap edge, while in the southern subtropics, there were several small transient storms over Solis. Water ice clouds were observed across the tropics and over all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

HiRISE image: high-altitude clouds on Mars

Posted on January 29, 2014 by rburnham

The standard color images for this observation look really weird. The reason is apparent by looking at an animation of the color images. These were acquired in a particular sequence: first blue-green (BG), then RED, then infrared (IR), and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

THEMIS image: Antoniadi Crater

Posted on January 23, 2014 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, January 23, 2014. This VIS image shows a portion of the floor of Antoniadi Crater. The faint, dark marks may be dust devil tracks.

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Spiral troughs in Mars polar caps are born in ‘cyclic steps’

Posted on October 15, 2013 by rburnham

Both Martian polar caps have deep spiral troughs that slice into them for dozens or hundreds of kilometers, but their origin and development has been much debated by scientists. New work by a team of researchers led by Isaac Smith … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars dust devils travel much faster than surface winds blow

Posted on October 9, 2013 by rburnham

Extending earlier work, a team of Mars scientists led by Dennis Reiss (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Germany) has made simultaneous (or near-) observations of dust devil speeds using cameras on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The cameras include CRISM, CTX, and HiRISE. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Dry ice slabs carve linear grooves down Mars dunes

Posted on June 12, 2013 by rburnham

The “megadune” in Russell Crater features linear grooves or gullies a few meters wide, a meter or two deep, and roughly a kilometer or two long.

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Was nitrogen in the early Mars atmosphere a key to ancient habitability?

Posted on June 5, 2013 by rburnham

Scientists have long suspected that ancient Mars had a thicker atmosphere and temperatures warmer and far more habitable than at present. But modelers have difficulties making the numbers come out right,

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Most deltas on Mars created by short, catastrophic floods

Posted on April 22, 2013 by rburnham

Rivers that run into lakes and other standing bodies of water drop sediment where the flow slackens as it enters the body of water. Over time, the accumulating material builds a delta — a wedge of sediment whose form can … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off