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Superb images of Mars reveal swarming dust storms raging on the surface of the planet for weeks and are similar to the one that killed NASA's rover Opportunity.
- Experts from the European Space Agency in Cologne have watched
- These storms form at the North Pole of Mars before dispersing towards the Equator
- Storms of a few days or weeks are commonplace on the surface of Mars.
- Two cameras aboard Mar Express have swept the storms recently
Dusty storms at the North Pole of Mars have ravaged the surface of the planet in recent weeks, revealed satellite images of the European Space Agency.
Experts from the German Aerospace Center in Cologne watched local and regional storms form at the pole before dispersing towards the equator.
Storms that last a few days or weeks and are limited to a small area are common places on Mars.
As at its peak, last year, during a storm that surrounded the Red Planet for many months, the entire planet was the most severe, killing NASA's rover Opportunity.
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Dusty storms at the North Pole of Mars have ravaged the surface of the planet in recent weeks, revealed satellite images of the European Space Agency. Pictured: This image, taken by HRSC on May 26, shows a spiral-shaped dust storm
Storms that last a few days or weeks and are limited to a small area are common places on Mars. Pictured: This animated sequence was compiled from footage of another storm captured by the MVC over a period of 70 minutes on May 29th.
ESA's Mars Express observed at least eight different storms at the edge of the North Pole ice cap between May 22nd and June 10th.
These formed and dissipated very quickly over a period of one to three days.
Two cameras on board the Space Shuttle, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the Visual Surveillance Camera (VMC), have been monitoring the storms in recent weeks.
"We are currently in the spring in the northern hemisphere of Mars," said a spokesman for ESA in a written statement.
"Clouds of water ice and small dust rises are frequently seen along the seasonally retreating ice cap.
"Many spacecraft on Mars broadcast daily weather reports from orbit or from the surface.
"They provided global and local impressions of changing weather conditions."
Experts have observed local and regional storms form at the pole before dispersing towards the equator. The montage of images (above) shows three different storms developing on May 22 and 26 and between June 6 and June 10.
Vaporous patches of clear clouds can be seen at the outer edge of the polar cap.
It is several thousand kilometers from the pole, near the volcanoes Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons.
Mars Express observed that when dust storms reached large volcanoes, orographic clouds that had previously developed began to evaporate as the air mass is heated by the influx of dust.
These are clouds of water ice driven by the influence of the leeward slope of the volcano on the airflow.
These regional dust storms only last a few days; the high dust is transported and dispersed by the world traffic in a fine mist in the lower atmosphere, between 20 and 40 km (12 to 24 miles).
Some traces of dust and clouds remained in the volcanic province until mid-June.
WHAT IS THE MARS EXPRESS SATELLITE OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY?
Mars Express, so called because of the speed and speed of its development, represents the first visit of the European Space Agency (ESA) to another planet in the solar system.
The spacecraft, launched in 2003, borrowed technology from ESA's Rosetta mission and Mars 96 mission.
Since the beginning of its scientific operations in 2004, the sustainable orbiter has given scientists an entirely new vision of the Earth's intriguing neighbor.
It now helps answer fundamental questions about geology, the atmosphere, the surface environment, the history of water and the life potential on Mars.
Mars Express, so called because of the speed and speed of its development, represents the first visit of the European Space Agency (ESA) to another planet in the solar system (artist impression)
The high-resolution camera of the spacecraft has returned thousands of spectacular 3D views of the Martian surface.
An instrument discovered hydrated minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water, confirming that Mars was much wetter than today.
The first radar sounder in orbit on another planet has detected layers of ice below the surface.
Another instrument detected enough ice in the polar ice caps to create a global ocean 36 feet (11 m) deep, and revealed vast plains of permafrost around the South Pole.
Mars Express found the highest clouds ever seen above a planetary surface 100 km away.
The mission found evidence of the possible presence of methane, which is attributed to active volcanism and biochemical processes on Earth.
Its highly elliptical orbit allowed the probe to look beyond Mars to monitor its two tiny moons, especially the Phobos satellite, as internal as possible, which has been studied with unprecedented detail.
During its existence, it served as a communication relay between the Earth and various NASA spacecraft, including the Phoenix lander and several rovers to the surface.
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