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Snow storms and winter wonderland on Mars!
Calling all Martian meteorology experts out there!
Given that we have seen sometimes quite prominent clouds over the Martian polar regions, I wonder if it would snow in the high latitudes, much as it does here on Earth? I am thinking a large proportion of the seasonal expansion of Mars' polar caps could be down to snowfall accumulating from the atmosphere, rather than 100% ground frost. I know there is some credible supposition that the cloud formations on Mars most likely contain water vapour in addition to CO2 and there have been some cyclonic activity, with very strong winds, seen over the poles by MGS in April 1999. Could all this result in occasional snow showers that will make a nice winter wonderland for future settlers? They might go skiing even! Any comments anyone? Abdul Ahad http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...eprojects.html |
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Snow storms and winter wonderland on Mars!
(Dave Austin) wrote in message . com...
(Abdul Ahad) wrote in message om... Calling all Martian meteorology experts out there! Given that we have seen sometimes quite prominent clouds over the Martian polar regions, I wonder if it would snow in the high latitudes, much as it does here on Earth? I am thinking a large proportion of the seasonal expansion of Mars' polar caps could be down to snowfall accumulating from the atmosphere, rather than 100% ground frost. I know there is some credible supposition that the cloud formations on Mars most likely contain water vapour in addition to CO2 and there have been some cyclonic activity, with very strong winds, seen over the poles by MGS in April 1999. Could all this result in occasional snow showers that will make a nice winter wonderland for future settlers? They might go skiing even! Any comments anyone? Abdul Ahad http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...eprojects.html In one of the raw images from the panoramic camera on the Spirit rover I see formations on the surface that look strangely like snow drifts. In one drift there appears in the foreground a bell shaped outward flared cone around the end of a rock. It looks to be tipped with icicles. Has anyone noticed this? Have any theories? Is it possible to test this material with the instrument package on the rover's arm to identify what it is? If it is wind blown sand, how could sand retain a shape like an icicle? If it is snow, is it CO2 snow or H2O snow or a combination of both? Dave Austin Are you able to reference the picture/specifics in question? I am intrigued as the Mars rovers have both landed close to the equator and all the pictures show only sand drifts as far as I could see. AA |
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