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JPL-Caltech / NASA
Animations that show how dust has enveloped the red planet (the image on the left is May 28, the right of July 1).
Pursuing storms requires luck and a lot of patience here on Earth – and more on Mars. For scientists observing NASA's red planet with orbiter, the month is a whirlwind. The "19459009" global dust storms where an uncontrolled series of such climatic events creates a cloud so large that it envelops the planet only appear every 6-8 years and scientists still do not understand why or exactly how these storms form and evolve.
In June, one of these dust events quickly engulfed the planet . Scientists first observed a smaller dust storm on May 30th. June 20 became global
For the Opportunity rover, it meant a sudden drop in visibility – from a clear day and from the sun to a cloudy day. As Opportunity exploits solar energy, scientists have had to suspend scientific activities in order to preserve the batteries of the rover. At the time of writing these lines, there was still no response from the rover .
Fortunately, all this dust functions as an atmospheric isolation preventing nighttime temperatures from falling below what the opportunity can afford. But the 15-year-old rover is still not out of danger : It can take weeks, if not months, for the dust to begin to stabilize.
Based on the longevity of a global sand storm of 2001, NASA scientists estimate in September only that the fog cleared up enough for Opportunity to get out of the way of life. Hibernating and calling at home.
When the heavens begin to brighten, Opportunity Solar Panels can be covered with a thin layer of dust. This can delay the recovery of the mobile as it collects energy to recharge its batteries. While the Opportunity team is waiting to hear the rover, scientists from other Martian missions have had a rare chance to study this phenomenon.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and MAVEN adapt their observations of the red planet to study this global storm and learn about weather conditions on Mars.
Mars Odyssey
With the THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System) instrument, scientists can plot the temperature on the surface of Mars at atmospheric temperature and the amount of dust in the atmosphere. This allows the dust storm to grow, evolve and dissipate over time.
" This is one of the largest weather events we have seen on Mars," provided observations. Michael Smith, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who works on the THEMIS instrument
. "
Since the beginning of the storm, THEMIS team has increased the frequency of global atmospheric observations from 10 days to twice a week," says Smith.
"Every Martian year, during the there are many local or regional storms that cover an area of the planet, "Smith explains, but scientists still do not know how these small storms develop and sometimes end up encompassing the whole planet. [19659010] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
The MRO probe has two instruments to study the sandstorm.Every day, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) maps the entire planet in the middle of the afternoon in order to track the
Meanwhile, the Mars Climate Sounder instrument (MCS) measures the atmosphere changes with altitude .
March Orbiter Recognition
The Probe Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO
With these data, scientists study how the Earth's storm changes the atmospheric temperatures of the planet. As in the Earth 's atmosphere, the temperature change of Mars can affect the wind patterns and even the circulation of the entire atmosphere.
This provides powerful feedback: the solar heating of the dust released to the atmosphere changes the temperature, which alters the winds and can enlarge the storm raising more dust from the surface.
Scientists want to know the details of the storm – where the air goes up or down? How do current atmospheric temperatures compare with a year without storms? And just like Mars Odyssey, the MRO team wants to determine how these sandstorms become global.
"The simple fact that we can start with something that is a local storm, no bigger than a US state, then trigger something that raises more dust and produces a haze covering almost all of the planet, is remarkable comments Rich Zurek, researcher at the MRO
Scientists want to know why storms happen every few years, which is difficult to do without a long recording such events It would be as if the extraterrestrials were observing the Earth and observing the climatic effects of El Niño over many years of observations – would ask why some regions are even more rainy and some areas more
Since the MAVEN orbiter entered orbit around Mars, "one of the things that we The expectation was a global dust storm, "said Bruce Jakosky, lead investigator on the probe
. But MAVEN does not study the dust storm itself. Instead, the MAVEN team wants to study how the storm affects the upper atmosphere of Mars, more than 100 km above the surface – where dust does not even reach.
NASA
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, next to the planet Mars
MAVEN's mission is to discover what happened to the initial atmosphere of Mars . We now know that at one point in its history, billions of years ago, liquid water has accumulated and crossed the surface, which means its atmosphere had to to be thicker and more insulating, similar to that of the Earth. [19659005] Since MAVEN arrived on Mars in 2014, his research discovered that this atmosphere may have been removed by a solar wind over several hundred million years ago, 3, 5-4
But there are nuances to be determined, such as how dust storms, such as the current storm, affect atmospheric molecules that escape into space, says Jakosky [19659004] For example, the dust storm acts as an atmospheric isolation trapping the heat of the sun. Does this heating change the way molecules escape from the atmosphere?
It is also likely that when the atmosphere heats up, more steam and water rises enough to be destroyed by sunlight, the solar wind sweeping the hydrogen atoms in the space. The team will have no response for a moment but each of the MAVEN's five daily orbits provides invaluable data.
Curiosity
Most NASA ships are studying the sandstorm since orbit. But the rover Curiosity has a unique perspective : the nuclear energy science machine is largely immune to the dark sky, which allows it to collect science in the beige veil that envelops the planet.
We are currently working in duplicate, "commented Ashin Vasavada of JPL, Curiosity project scientist. "Our recently refurbished drill receives a sample of fresh rocks, but we also use the instruments to study the evolution of the dust storm."
Curiosity a several "eyes" that can determine abundance and size of dust particles according to their spread and absorb light. This includes the Mastcam, ChemCam and an ultraviolet sensor at REMS, its "suite" of meteorological instruments.
NASA
The Curiosity rover has a unique perspective
The "REMS" suite can also help study atmospheric tides – changes in pressure that move like waves in all-thin air of the planet. These tides change drastically depending on where the dust is globally not only inside the crater of Gale.
The World Storm also may reveal secrets about the "dust devils" and the winds of Mars. Dust devils can occur when the surface of the planet is warmer than the air above.
During a sandstorm, there is less direct sunlight and less daytime temperatures, however, there is less direct sunlight and less daytime temperatures; Even a new borehole can advance the science of storms : Observing small piles of loose materials, formed by Curiosity exercise, is the best way to monitor winds .
Scientists think that the storm will last at least two months . Every time you see Mars in the sky in the coming weeks, remember the data that scientists collect to better understand the mysterious climate of the red planet.
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