As we deploy rovers and landers across Mars’s surface and fill its orbit with satellites, we are slowly being able to explore the hard questions, like how do we predict weather on a world where it snows carbon dioxide.

In a presentation at March’s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by Noora Alsaeed, researchers document how dust plays a major role in Mars weather. This work is now summed up by Kimberly Cartier on EOS.org. With stunning imagery, this research documents how the movement of dust, instead of moisture, regulates Mars’ weather patterns. For instance, and I quote: Stronger southern dust cycles on Mars stifle its northern polar vortex and increase its snowfall rate, up to a point at least.

Using ten years of infrared data to track dust, Alsaeed looked at the dust seasons on Mars and how they correlated with the fall of carbon dioxide snow. It turns out that more dust is good for more snow. Alsaeed explains: The Mars dust cycle is very important, and the poles are very important in terms of regulating heat and atmospheric circulation. The fact that they’re so tightly coupled makes sense in a way, but it’s really important to understand just how that coupling works. This work highlights just how tightly coupled they are, and I hope that more work in the future looks at what the direct line of influence is.

Folks, go check out the imagery used in the story Cartier wrote. It is stunning. We’ll link to it on our website, DailySpace.org.

More Information

Mars’s Dust Cycle Controls Its Polar Vortex and Snowfall (Eos)

“Dust-Driven Polar Vortex Dynamics and Snowfall From Mars Climate Sounder Observations,” N. R. Alsaeed, P. O. Hayne, and V. Concepcion, 2022, 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference