Scientists want to know the details of the storm - where is the air rising or falling? How do the atmospheric temperatures now compare to a storm-less year? And as with Mars Odyssey, the MRO team wants to know how these dust storms go global. This provides a powerful feedback: Solar heating of the dust lofted into the atmosphere changes temperatures, which changes winds, which may amplify the storm by lifting more dust from the surface. Just as in Earth's atmosphere, changing temperature on Mars can affect wind patterns and even the circulation of the entire atmosphere. With these data, scientists are studying how the dust storm changes the planet's atmospheric temperatures. Since the end of May, the instruments have observed the onset and rapid expansion of a dust storm on Mars. Meanwhile, MRO's Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument measures how the atmosphere's temperature changes with altitude. Each day, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) maps the entire planet in mid-afternoon to track the evolution of the storm. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has two instruments studying the dust storm. But scientists aren't yet sure how these smaller storms sometimes grow to end up encircling the entire planet. "Every Mars year, during the dusty season, there are a lot of local- or regional-scale storms that cover one area of the planet," Smith said. One mystery they're still trying to solve: How these dust storms go global. Since the dust storm began, the THEMIS team has increased the frequency of global atmospheric observations from every 10 days to twice per week, Smith said. "Having another example of a dust storm really helps us to understand what's going on." "This is one of the largest weather events that we've seen on Mars," since spacecraft observations began in the 1960s, said Michael Smith, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland who works on the THEMIS instrument. This allows them to watch the dust storm grow, evolve, and dissipate over time.
With the THEMIS instrument (Thermal Emission Imaging System), scientists can track Mars' surface temperature, atmospheric temperature, and the amount of dust in the atmosphere. Here's how each mission is currently studying the dust storm, and what we might learn from it: Meanwhile, the Curiosity rover is studying the dust storm from the Martian surface. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiters are all tailoring their observations of the Red Planet to study this global storm and learn more about Mars' weather patterns. While the Opportunity team waits in earnest to hear from the rover, scientists on other Mars missions have gotten a rare chance to study this head-scratching phenomenon.
#S and s storm chasers full
A gust of wind would help, but isn't a requirement for a full recovery. That could delay a recovery of the rover as it gathers energy to recharge its batteries. When the skies begin to clear, Opportunity's solar panels may be covered by a fine film of dust. Based on the longevity of a 2001 global storm, NASA scientists estimate it may be early September before the haze has cleared enough for Opportunity to power up and call home. But the nearly 15-year-old rover isn't out of the woods yet: it could take weeks, or even months, for the dust to start settling. Luckily, all that dust acts as an atmospheric insulator, keeping nighttime temperatures from dropping down to lower than what Opportunity can handle. As of July 18th, no response has been received from the rover. Because Opportunity runs on solar energy, scientists had to suspend science activities to preserve the rover's batteries. By June 20, it had gone global.įor the Opportunity rover, that meant a sudden drop in visibility from a clear, sunny day to that of an overcast one. Scientists first observed a smaller-scale dust storm on May 30. In June, one of these dust events rapidly engulfed the planet. Scientists still don't understand why or how exactly these storms form and evolve.
#S and s storm chasers series
"Global" dust storms, where a runaway series of storms creates a dust cloud so large it envelops the planet, only appear every six to eight years (that's three to four Mars years). Storm chasing takes luck and patience on Earth - and even more so on Mars.įor scientists watching the Red Planet from data gathered by NASA's orbiters, the past month has been a windfall.