The occurrence of Martian dust storms that would span across Mars might have an explanation for how these natural phenomena happen.
On the red planet, these storms are seasonal and could cover the entire planet; it was the cause of losing contact with NASA's Opportunity rover was fatal.
Factors Causing Dust Storms on Mars
A better understanding of these storms and what produces them is crucial to the continuous operation of solar-powered robotic missions and the protection of future manned spacecraft, reported Sciencealert.
Researchers are spotting the seasonal shifts that affect solar energy availability, and higher temperatures are thought to contribute to combining and expanding.
A recent study by University of Houston researchers could be caused by seasonal energy disparities in the solar energy absorbed and released by the planet, cited Newsroom.
The implication of the finding might lead to insights into how the red planet is affected by its climate and atmosphere.
Ellen Creecy, a Ph.D. student, affiliated with Houston University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), is the study's lead author; it is part of her doctoral thesis, noted Universe Today.
Other members are Dr. Xun Jiang and Dr. Liming Li (thesis advisers), and they are researchers from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, other universities in the Space Research Association (USRA) under the Lunar Planetary Institute (LPI), mentioned Quick Telecast.
Scientists Study Martian Dust Storms
The radiant energy budget refers to how much solar energy is absorbed by the planet, reflected, and redirected as heat.
It is a fundamental measure for categorizing any planet's climate, weather, and climate cycles, like Martian dust storms on Mars.
The team gathered observations from various missions, including Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), the Curiosity rover, and the InSight lander, for the study.
This enabled them to approximate Mars' climate and have an educated guess on the amount of energy released into the atmosphere globally as a mechanism of seasonal change, such as when there is a global dust storm.
It allows them to model Mars' climate and estimate the amount of energy it emitted globally as a function of season, including periods with a global dust storm.
Creecy added that it is an intriguing discovery that more energy is being absorbed than produced; this could be one of the processes causing sand storms on Mars.
In June 2001, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged Mars at the start of a storm in the location in the giant Hellas Basin (oval at 4 o'clock position on disk). Another storm was detected in the northern polar cap as evidence of the powerful seasonal and daily variations of solar energy reflected by the red planet.
Detection of the energy imbalance between the seasons on the planet compared to earth. An increase in solar energy is 29 percent at night.
In a recent USRA press statement, Dr. Germán Martnez, a USRA staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) and a co-author of the paper.
The findings might enhance our understanding of the earth's climate by forecasting how our environment will be in the future.
Understanding more about other planetary climates will always lead to a better understanding of our own.
Martian dust storms are seasonal on Mars, and they give an insight into how things could change on earth; if changes occur in the future.
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