Mars Express Spacecraft Reveals Secret of Red Planet's Elongated Cloud

Detailed long-term research reveals the secret of the elongated cloud found on Mars through exciting new observations using the "Mars Webcam" on European Space Agency's Mars Express spaceship.

A Phys.org report said that when spring occurs in southern Mars, a cloud of water ice arises near the Arsia Mons, a 20-kilometer tall volcano, quickly stretching out for many hundreds of kilometers before it fades away in a few hours.

Mars Express has previously watched this cloud as it hovers close to Arsia Mons volcano, just south of the equator of Mars.

Curiously, this volcano is the only low-latitude site on the Red Planet where clouds are observed, and the only one of the many similar volcanoes in the region to have such a cloud's veil at this time of the year.

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Mars Express

Mars Express, as shown on Space and Planet's YouTube video below, has seen growth and fading out of this veil of cloud on a daily basis in the entire summer and spring seasons. It sent back prominent images of what's described as a long and dramatic white cloud.

Nevertheless, the cloud is hard to observe in its wholeness because of the fast, variable dynamics of the Martian atmosphere, as well as the limitations of numerous spacecraft orbits, restricting experts' knowledge of the manner and reason it's forming and changing over time.

According to the new findings' lead author, Jorge Hernandez Bernal, to clear such hurdles, they used one of the secret tools of Mars Express, the Visual Monitoring Camera or VMC.

Jorge is from the University of the Basque County in Bilbao, Spain and part of a long-term research on the dynamics of clouds.

The lead author and his colleagues' work exhibits an exciting and unintentional use for the VMC. Also called the Mars Webcam, the VMC is designed with a resolution the same as the standard 2003 webcam.

It was mounted to visually verify that the Beagle 2 lander had separated successfully from Mars Express in 2003, after which it was turned off.

Several years after, the Mars Webcam was reactivated and used to collect images of Mars for public involvement, as well as outreach activities, although it stayed unused for scientific studies.

The White Cloud

According to CNet, white cloud emerges during the Martian spring and can expand up to 1,120 miles long. According to the EA, it is the biggest 'orographic' cloud ever observed on Mars. This means that it's forming as a result of wind being forced upwards by topographic features like volcanoes and mountains on a planetary surface.

The cloud is going through a growth cycle every day that begins before sunrise and features a quick expansion rate as it expands out from Arsia Mons. Later on, it evaporates as the day begins to warm.

According to Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, co-author of the study published in the JGR Planets journal, orographic clouds happen on Earth although they do not reach the wild lengths of this one on the Red Planet.

Sangez-Lavega, who is from the University of Basque Country, added that understanding this cloud gives them an exciting opportunity to attempt replicating the formation of the cloud with models.

These models, he elaborated, will enhance their knowledge of climactic systems both on Mars and on Earth.