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<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The Mars Express orbiter monitors the vast cloud for weeks – and researchers believe it is not related to volcanic activity."data-reactid =" 32 "> The Mars Express Orbiter has been monitoring the vast cloud for weeks – and researchers believe it is not related to volcanic activity.
It is rather a cloud of ice created by the influence of the volcano on the airflow, called "cloud lee" or "cloud orographic".
Since September, the Mars Express Visual Surveillance Camera (VMC) has been recording images hundreds of times.
Mars has just experienced its winter solstice in the northern hemisphere on October 16th.
It was created by a 12 km high volcano (Picture Getty)
In the months leading up to the solstice, most cloud activities disappeared on large volcanoes such as Arsia Mons; its summit is covered with clouds during the rest of the year Martian.
However, it is known that a recurrent water ice cloud is forming along the southwestern flank of this volcano – it had already been observed by Mars Express and other missions in 2009, 2012 and 2015.
The appearance of the cloud varies throughout the Martian day, extending during the local morning downwind of the volcano, almost parallel to the equator, and reaching a size as impressive as it could be seen even by telescopes on earth.
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