Martian Climate

Stargazers on Mars might face one of the same challenges that often hampers a night under the stars here on Earth: clouds. A recent study found that clouds on the Red Planet tend to be thicker at night than during the day. They’re thickest in early morning and evening, especially when Mars is coldest. A fleet of orbiters and landers has been scanning the planet for decades. The probes have told us quite a bit about the Martian climate. The cloud study came from a craft that’s been in orbit since 2021. It watched the clouds both day and night. It amassed the most complete view of the nighttime sky to date. Another study looked at Martian winds. Researchers used AI to sift through more than two decades of images collected by two orbiters. The program identified more than a thousand dust devils – twisting columns of air that sweep dust high into the sky, such as this one recorded by the Perseverance rover. [dust devil sounds] Tracking the motions of the little devils allowed scientists to plot the speed and direction of the winds across the whole planet. The study revealed peak wind speeds of almost a hundred miles per hour – far faster than anything ever recorded by instruments on the surface. These studies and others are helping scientists better understand how the Martian climate works – day and night, in every season. More about Martian climate tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield