Mysterious Clouds On Mars Formed By 'Meteoric Smoke,' Study Says

Scientists have discovered that some clouds on Mars are created from the debris of meteors that burn up in the planet's atmosphere. "This 'meteoric smoke,' described in a paper published Monday in Nature Geoscience, stimulates cloud formation at altitudes between 30 and 60 kilometers," reports Motherboard. From the report: "Until now, meteoric smoke has been neglected in general circulation model studies of the formation of Martian water ice clouds," said the study's authors, who were led by Victoria Hartwick, a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder. "We conclude that Mars atmospheric simulations that neglect meteoric smoke do not reproduce the observed spatial distribution of water ice clouds." These meteoric smoke clouds are distinct from low-altitude clouds that form when dust particles are kicked up from the Martian surface by winds, and also differ from high altitude clouds that nucleate around carbon dioxide particles, the team said.

The team used data from NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter to show that about three or four tons of alien dust slams into Mars' atmosphere every sol, which is the Martian version of a day. Only a fraction of this interplanetary material sprinkles down to lower altitudes, but that is more than enough to encourage cloud formation. The new research not only explains how these enigmatic clouds form on Mars, it also suggests that meteors may play a larger role in the Martian climate than previously assumed. For instance, meteoric smoke could help explain cloud formation during Mars' early years, when the planet was warmer, wetter, and possibly conducive to life.

By Popular Demand

[SuperKendall]

Mysterious Clouds On Mars Formed By 'Meteoric Smoke,' Study Say

Even Mars can't help but legalize weed it seems!

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[SuperKendall]

Yeah I agree my post was simply silly, but if ya got something better you have to post it man! I figured my post would be lost under more interesting comments, didn't happen this round it seems.

Only YOU can make Slashdot better! Post something interesting!

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[PolygamousRanchKid]

Mysterious Clouds On Mars Formed By 'Meteoric Smoke,' Study Say

Even Mars can't help but legalize weed it seems!

I figured that the Mars Rovers were vaping. Exploring Mars is very stressful, so they vape to help them deal with it.

The meteorite debris *nucleates* ice particles

[RockDoctor]

The hate is strong on Slashdot today. TFAbstract makes it clear that including meteorite dust as a nucleation centre for ice clouds makes features appear in the models which are seen in the sky (of Mars). So it's just another step in the process of refining science to indicate a better understanding of the world. A number of things help to nucleate cloud droplets and ice grains on Earth - pollen, bacteria, sea salt grains, desert mineral dust, volcanic ash, meteorite dust (measured at around 40Mg/yr by balloon experiments). Not all of these are known on Mars, but they've added the meteorite dust to the model, and the model matches reality a bit better now. As Jim al-Kalili (physics maven) is wont to say, "Boom! Science!"

smoke on the...

[sad_]

coming up next, the latest hit single by the first Mars native rock band - deep red!

smoke from the meteor, fire in the sky...

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[account_deleted]

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[neo-mkrey]

That's cool. Thanks for sharing.

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[account_deleted]

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[CrimsonAvenger]

I assume if it's been hit by an asteroid Mars doesn't have any dinosaurs any more.

Why would you assume that? We've been hit by asteroids, and we still have dinosaurs here....

Or did you not get the news that birds are dinosaurs?

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[account_deleted]

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Science!

[Tablizer]

Let's drop some politicians from orbit to test that theory.