Clouds in Motion on Mars

This is a pretty interesting and, under the circumstances, a very vivid video of clouds on mars, although it looks more like a sandstorm to me. Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog has put together a pretty cool video from Mars Express data, showcasing clouds on mars in motion.

Emily has just learned a new technique called ‘tweening’ to create smooth animation videos from a series of images that are not at a very high frame rate. She explains more about the technique on her blog post here and has promised a two-part “how to” explainer for those interested in learning how to do this for yourself.

The cloudy area shown on Mars is within Noachis Terra to the west of Hellas basin, around 45 degrees south, 38 east.

Source: Nifty Video: Clouds in Motion on Mars

The images that compose this animation were taken on October 14, 2010, on Mars Express' 8676th orbit, and show an area within Noachis Terra to the west of Hellas basin, around 45 degrees south, 38 east.

You can read more about the process at Emily's Blog

Clouds, a sandstorm or maybe both?

Looks like a sandstorm to me. I've seen the videos of clouds on mars, but this looks very much like a sandstorm.

Just saying.

reply to post by Droogie


Yeah they're clouds, they cast a shadow on the ground. Did you know it snows on Mars? When I found that out my mind was blown.

A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars has [color=limegreen]detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft's landing site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground.

I gloss over that in the "Water and Life on Mars" thread in my signature, but the snow that falls from these clouds definitely is something I would have never predicted. I wonder if these clouds are made of water vapor like on Earth, or CO2? I shall wonder no more, NASA thinks they're made of water-ice.

Originally posted by TupacShakur

Yeah they're clouds, they cast a shadow on the ground.

I agree, after a closer look it seems the shadows fooled me.

Did you know it snows on Mars? When I found that out my mind was blown.

I wasn't aware of that, but thanks for bringing it up!

I wonder if these clouds are made of water vapor like on Earth, or CO2? I shall wonder no more, NASA thinks they're made of water-ice.

Wouldn't that mean there is moisture in mars' atmosphere though? I'm just guessing as I regrettably know very little about mars in general.