🔥 Moons of Mars

There are 2 stars in total namely

1. Phobos: A larger moon and the closest to Mars.

2. Deimos: A small moon located further out.

Climate of Mars

The climate of Mars has been a topic of scientific curiosity for centuries, in part because it is the only terrestrial planet whose surface can be easily directly observed in detail from Earth with help from a telescope. Although Mars is smaller than Earth with only one tenth of Earth's mass, and 50% farther from the Sun than Earth, its climate has important similarities, such as the presence of polar ice caps, seasonal changes and observable weather patterns. It has attracted sustained study from planetologists and climatologists. While Mars's climate has similarities to Earth's, including periodic ice ages, there are also Important differences, such as much lower thermal inertia. Mars's atmosphere has a scale height of approximately 11 km (36,000 ft), 60% greater than that on Earth. The climate is of considerable relevance to the question of whether life is or ever has been present on the planet. Mars has been studied by Earth-based instruments since the 17th century, but it is only since the exploration of Mars began in the mid-1960s that close-range observation has been possible. Flyby and orbital spacecraft have provided data from above, while landers and rovers have measured atmospheric conditions directly. Advanced Earth-orbital instruments today continue to provide some useful "big picture" observations of relatively large weather phenomena. The first Martian flyby mission was Mariner 4, which arrived in 1965. That quick two-day pass (July 14-15, 1965) with crude instruments contributed little to the state of knowledge of Martian climate. Later Mariner missions (Mariner 6 and 7) filled in some of the gaps in basic climate information. Data-based climate studies started in eamest with the Viking program landers in 1975 and continue with such probes as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This observational work has been complemented by a type of scientific computer simulation called the Mars general circulation model. Several different iterations of MGCM have led to an increased understanding of Mars as well as the limits of such models.

Historical climate observations

Giacomo Maraldi determined in 1704 that the southern cap is not centered on the rotational pole of Mars. During the opposition of 1719, Maraldi observed both polar caps and temporal variability in their extent. William Herschel was the first to deduce the low density of the Martian atmosphere in his 1784 paper entitled On the remarkable appearances at the polar regions on the planet Mars, the inclination of its axis, the position of its poles, and its spheroidal figure; with a few hints relating to its real diameter and atmosphere. When Mars appeared to pass close by two faint stars with no effect on their brightness, Herschel correctly concluded that this meant that there was little atmosphere around Mars to interfere with their light. Honore Flaugergues's 1809 discovery of "yellow clouds' on the surface of Mars is the first known observation of Martian dust storms. 4 Flaugergues also observed in 1813 significant polar-ice waning during Martian springtime. His speculation that this meant that Mars was warmer than Earth proved inaccurate.

Martian paleoclimatology

There are two dating systems now in use for Martian geological time. One is based on crater density and has three ages: Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian. The other is a mineralogical timeline, also having three ages: Phyllocian, Thelkian, and Siderikian.

Recent observations and modeling are producing information not only about the present climate and atmospheric conditions on Mars but also about its past. The Noachian-era Martian atmosphere had long been theorized to be carbon dioxide-rich. Recent spectral observations of deposits of clay minerals on Mars and modeling of clay mineral formation conditions have found that there is little to no carbonate present in clay of that era. Clay formation in a carbon dioxide-rich environment is always accompanied by carbonate formation, although the carbonate may later be dissolved by volcanic acidity.

The discovery of water-formed minerals on Mars including hematite and jarosite, by the Opportunity rover and goethite by the Spirit rover, has led to the conclusion that climatic conditions in the distant past allowed for free-flowing water on Mars. The morphology of some crater impacts on Mars Indicate that the ground was wet at the time of impact. Geomorphic observations of both landscape erosion ratesel and Martian valley networks also strongly imply warmer, wetter conditions on Noachian-era Mars (Earlier than about four billion years ago). However, chemical analysis of Martian meteorite samples suggests that the ambient near-surface temperature of Mars has most likely been below 0 °C (32 °F) for the last four billion years.

Some scientists maintain that the great mass of the Tharsis volcanoes has had a major influence on Mars's climate. Erupting volcanoes give off great amounts of gas, mainly water vapor and CO2. Enough gas may have been released by volcanoes to have made the earlier Martian atmosphere thicker than Earth's. The volcanoes could also have emitted enough H₂O to cover the whole Martian surface to a depth of 120 m (390 ft). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that raises a planet's temperature: it traps heat by absorbing infrared radiation. Thus, Tharsis volcanoes, by giving off CO2, could have made Mars more Earth-like in the past. Mars may have once had a much thicker and warmer atmosphere, and oceans or lakes may have been present, It has, however, proven extremely difficult to construct convincing global climate models for Mars which produce temperatures above 0 °C (32 °F) at any point in its history, although this may simply reflect problems in accurately calibrating such models. Evidence of a geologically recent, extreme ice age on Mars was published in 2016. Just 370,000 years ago, the planet would have appeared more white than red.

Weather

Mars's temperature and circulation vary every Martian year (as expected for any planet with an atmosphere and axial tilt). Mars lacks oceans, a source of much interannual variation on Earth, Mars Orbiter Camera data beginning in March 1999 and covering 2.5. Martian years show that Martian weather tends to be more repeatable and hence more predictable than that of Earth. If an event occurs at a particular time of year in one year, the available data (sparse as it is) indicates that it is fairly likely to repeat the next year at nearly the same location, give or take a week., On September 29, 2008, the Phoenix lander detected snow falling from clouds 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) above its landing site near Heimdal Crater. The precipitation vaporised before reaching the ground, a phenomenon called virga.

Clouds

Martian dust storms can kick up fine particles in the atmosphere around which clouds can form. These clouds can form very high up, up to 100 km (62 mi) above the planet. As well as Martian Dust Storms, clouds can naturally form as a result of dry ice formation or water and ice, or other chemicals. Furthermore, rarer "Mother of Pearl' clouds have formed when all particies of a cloud form at the same time, creating iridescent clouds. The first images of Mars sent by Mariner 4 showed visible clouds in Mars's upper atmosphere. The clouds are very faint and can only be seen reflecting sunlight against the darkness of the night sky. In that respect, they look similar to mesospheric clouds, also known as noctilucent clouds, on Earth, which occur about 80 km (50 ml) above our planet.

Temperature

Measurements of Martian temperature predate the Space Age. However, early instrumentation and techniques of radio astronomy produced crude, differing results. Early flyby probes (Mariner 4) and later orbiters used radio occultation to perform aeronomy. With chemical composition already deduced from spectroscopy, temperature and pressure could then be derived. Nevertheless, flyby occultations can only. measure properties along two transects, at their trajectories' entries and exits from Mars's disk as seen from Earth. This results in weather 'snapshots' at a particular area, at a particular time. Orbiters then increase the number of radio transects. Later missions, starting with the dual Mariner 6 and 7 flybys, plus the Soviet Mars 2 and 3, carried infrared detectors to measure radiant energy. Mariner 9 was the first to place an Infrared radiometer and spectrometer in Mars orbit in 1971, along with its other instruments and radio transmitter. Viking 1 and 2 followed, with not merely Infrared Thermal Mappers (IRTM), 1200 The missions could also corroborate these remote sensing datasets with not only their in situ lander metrology booms, but with higher-altitude temperature and pressure sensors for their descent,

Differing In situ values have been reported for the average temperature on Mars, with a common value being -63 °C (210 K; -81 °F). Surface temperatures may reach a high of about 20 °C (293 K; 68 °F) at noon, at the equator, and a low of about -153 °C (120 K; -243 °F) at the poles. Actual temperature measurements at the Viking landers' site range from -17.2 °C (256.0 K; 1.0 °F) to-107 °C (166 K; -161 °F). The warmest soil temperature estimated by the Viking Orbiter was 27 °C (300 K; 81 °F). The Spirit rover recorded a maximum daytime air temperature in the shade of 35 °C (308 K; 95 °F), and regularly recorded temperatures well above 0 °C (273 K; 32 °F), except in winter.

It has been reported that "On the basis of the nighttime air temperature data, every northern spring and early northern summer yet observed were identical to within the level of experimental error (to within ±1 °C)' but that the "daytime data, however, suggests a somewhat different story, with temperatures varying from year-to-year by up to 6 °C in this season. This day-night discrepancy is unexpected and not understood". In southern spring and summer, variance is dominated by dust storms which increase the value of the night low temperature and decrease the daytime peak temperature. This results in a small (20 °C) decrease in average surface temperature, and a moderate (30 °C) Increase in upper atmosphere temperature, Before and after the Viking missions, newer, more advanced Martian temperatures were determined from Earth via microwave spectroscopy. As the microwave beam, of under 1 arcminute, is larger than the disk of the planet, the results are global averages. Later, the Mars Global Surveyor's Thermal Emission Spectrometer and to a lesser extent 2001 Mars Odyssey's THEMIS could not merely reproduce infrared measurements but intercompare lander, rover, and Earth microwave data. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Climate Sounder can similarly derive atmospheric profiles. The datasets "suggest generally colder atmospheric temperatures and lower dust loading in recent decades on Mars than during the Viking Mission although Viking data had previously been revised downward. The TES data indicates 'Much colder (10-20 K) global atmospheric temperatures were observed during the 1997 versus 1977 perihelion periods" and "that the global aphelion atmosphere of Mars is colder, less dusty, and cloudier than indicated by the established Viking climatology," again, taking into account the Wilson and Richardson revisions to Viking data.

A later comparison, while admitting "it is the microwave record of air temperatures which is the most representative,' attempted to merge the discontinuous spacecraft record. No measurable trend in global average temperature between Viking IRTM and MGS TES was visible. "Viking and MGS air temperatures are essentially indistinguishable for this period, suggesting that the Viking and MGS eras are characterized by essentially the same climatic state." It found "a strong dichotomy" between the northern and southern. hemispheres, a 'very asymmetric paradigm for the Martian annual cycle: a northern spring and summer which is relatively cool, not very dusty, and relatively rich in water vapor and ice clouds; and a southern summer rather similar to that observed by Viking with warmer air temperatures, less water vapor and water ice, and higher levels of atmospheric dust. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MCS (Mars Climate Sounder) Instrument was, upon arrival, able to operate jointly with MGS for a brief period; the less-capable Mars Odyssey THEMIS and Mars Express SPICAM datasets may also be used to span a single, well-calibrated record. While MCS and TES temperatures are generally consistent, investigators report possible cooling below the analytical precision. "After accounting for this modeled cooling, MCS MY 28 temperatures are an average of 0.9 (daytime) and 1.7 K (night-time) cooler than TES MY 24 measurements.

It has been suggested that Mars had a much thicker, warmer atmosphere early in its history. Much of this early atmosphere would have consisted of carbon dioxide. Such an atmosphere would have raised the temperature, at least in some places, to above. the freezing point of water. With the higher temperature running water could have carved out the many channels and outflow valleys that are common on the planet. It also may have gathered together to form lakes and maybe an ocean. Some researchers have suggested that the atmosphere of Mars may have been many times as thick as the Earth's; however research published in September 2015 advanced the idea that perhaps the early Martian atmosphere was not as thick as previously thought.

Currently, the atmosphere is very thin. For many years, it was assumed that as with the Earth, most of the early carbon dioxide was locked up in minerals, called carbonates. However, despite the use of many orbiting instruments that looked for carbonates, very few carbonate deposits have been found. Today, it is thought that much of the carbon dioxide in the Martian air was removed by the solar wind. Researchers have discovered a two-step process that sends the gas into space. Ultraviolet light from the Sun could strike a carbon dioxide molecule, breaking it into carbon monoxide and oxygen. A second photon of ultraviolet light could subsequently break the carbon monoxide into oxygen and carbon which would get enough energy to escape the planet. In this process the light isotope of carbon (12C) would be most likely to leave the atmosphere. Hence, the carbon dioxide left in the atmosphere would be enriched with the heavy isotope (13C), This higher level of the heavy isotope is what was found by the Curiosity rover on Mars. Climate data for the Gale Crater is provided here below, with the seasons normalized to those of Earth.

Atmospheric properties and processes

The Martian atmosphere is composed mainly of carbon dioxide and has a mean surface pressure of about 600 pascals (Pa), nearly 170 times lower than the Earth's 101,000 Pa. One effect of this is that Mars's atmosphere can react much more quickly to a given energy input than Earth's atmosphere. As a consequence, Mars is subject to strong thermal tides produced by solar heating rather than a gravitational influence. These tides can be significant, being up to 10% of the total atmospheric pressure (typically about 50 Pa). Earth's atmosphere experiences similar diumal and semidiurnal tides but their effect is less noticeable because of Earth's much greater atmospheric mass. Although the temperature on Mars can reach above freezing, liquid water is unstable over much of the planet, as the atmospheric pressure is below water's triple point and water ice sublimes into water vapor. Exceptions to this are the low-lying areas of the planet, most notably in the Hellas Planitia impact basin, the largest such crater on Mars. It is so deep that the atmospheric pressure at the bottom reaches which is above the triple point, so if the temperature exceeded the local freezing point, liquid water could exist there.

Wind

The surface of Mars has a very low thermal inertia, which means it heats quickly when the sun shines on it. Typical daily temperature swings, away from the polar regions, are around 100 K. On Earth, winds often develop in areas where thermal inertia changes suddenly, such as from sea to land. There are no seas on Mars, but there are areas where the thermal Inertia of the soil changes, leading to moming and evening winds akin to the sea breezes on Earth. The Antares project "Mars Small-Scale Weather" (MSW) has identified in 2003 some minor weaknesses in then current global climate models (GCMs) due to the GCMs' more primitive soil modeling. "Heat admission to the ground and back is quite important in Mars, so soil schemes have to be quite accurate, Those weaknesses are being corrected and should lead to more accurate future assessments, but make continued reliance on older predictions of modeled Martian climate somewhat problematic. At low latitudes the Hadley circulation dominates, and is essentially the same as the process which on Earth generates the trade winds. At higher latitudes a series of high and low pressure areas, called baroclinic pressure waves, dominate the weather. Mars is drier and colder than Earth, and in consequence dust raised by these winds tends to remain in the atmosphere longer than on Earth as there is no precipitation to wash it out (excepting CO2 snowfall). One such cyclonic storm was recently captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (pictured below).

One of the major differences between Mars's and Earth's Hadley circulations is their speed which is measured on an overturning timescale. The overturning timescale on Mars is about 100 Martian days while on Earth, it is over a year.

Katabatic Winds and Jumps

Katabatic winds, or drainage atmospheric flows, are winds that are created by cooled dense alr sinking and accelerating down sloping terrains through gravitational force. Found most commonly on Earth effecting the elevated ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, katabatic winds can also be found effecting parts of Mars with intense clear-cut downslope circulations, such as Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, and both the northern and southern polar cap. They can be identified by multiple different surface morphological features in the polar regions, such as dune fields and frost streaks. Due to the low thermal inertia of Mars's thin CO2 atmosphere and the short radiative timescales, katabatic winds on Mars are two to three times stronger than those on Earth and take place on large areas of land with weak ambient winds, sloping terrain, and near-surface temperature inversions or radiative cooling of the surface and atmosphere. Katabatic winds have been instrumental in shaping the northern polar cap and the polar layered deposits, both in aeolian methodology and thermal methodology. It has also been shown that the acceleration of katabatic winds increases with the steepness of the slope and causes atmospheric warming the more intense the slope is, This atmospheric warming could appear over any steep slope, but this does not always equal surface warming. They also are shown to limit CO₂ condensation rates on the polar caps in the winter and Increase CO₂ sublimation in the summer. Though quantitative measurements of katabatic winds are rarely available, they remain a highly sought-after element for upcoming missions.

Katabatic jumps are also common in troughs on Mars and can be described as narrow zones with large horizontal changes in pressure, temperature, and wind speed that require super saturated water vapor to form clouds and enable ice migration from the upstream part of the trough to the downstream. For this reason, the polar caps see less katabatic jumps in winter, as the seasonal ice cap that covers the polar regions means there is less water ice available to create vapor. However, even when the seasonal cap has sublimated over the course of the Martian summer, the fast winds necessary for katabatic jumps are no longer present, meaning the cloud cover is again negligible. Therefore, katabatic jumps are most commonly seen in troughs during the Martian spring and Martian fall.

Dust storms

When the Mariner 9 probe arrived at Mars in 1971, scientists expected to see crisp new pictures of surface detail. Instead they saw a near planet-wide dust storm with only the giant volcano Olympus Mons showing above the haze. The storm lasted for a month, an occurrence scientists have since learned is quite common on Mars. Using data from Mariner 9, James B. Pollack et al. proposed a mechanism for Mars dust storms in 1973.

As observed by the Viking spacecraft from the surface, "during a global dust storm the diurnal temperature range narrowed sharply, from 50°C to about 10°C, and the wind speeds picked up considerably indeed, within only an hour of the storm's arrival they had increased to 17 m/s (61 km/h), with gusts up to 26 m/s (94 km/h). Nevertheless, no actual transport of material was observed at either site, only a gradual brightening and loss of contrast of the surface material as dust settled onto it. On June 26, 2001, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a dust storm brewing In Hellas Basin on Mars (pictured right). A day later the storm 'exploded" and became a global event. Orbital measurements showed that this dust storm reduced the average temperature of the surface and raised the temperature of the atmosphere of Mars by 30 K. The low density of the Martian atmosphere means that winds of 18 to 22 m/s (65 to 79 km/h) are needed to lift dust from the surface, but since Mars is so dry, the dust can stay in the atmosphere far longer than on Earth, where it is soon washed out by rain. The season following that dust storm had daytime temperatures 4 K below average. This was attributed to the global covering of light-colored dust that settled out of the dust storm, temporarily increasing Mars's albedo,

In mid-2007 a planet-wide dust storm posed a serious threat to the solar-powered Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers by reducing the amount of energy provided by the solar panels and necessitating the shut-down of most science experiments while waiting for the storms to clear. Following the dust storms, the rovers had significantly reduced power due to settling of dust on the arrays, Dust storms are most common during perihelion, when the planet receives 40 percent more sunlight than during aphelion. During aphelion water ice clouds form in the atmosphere, Interacting with the dust particles and affecting the temperature of the planet.

Mars's global dust storms, which can last for months, are often triggered by solar heating near the planet's perihelion, intensifying atmospheric circulation and dust lifting,

A large intensifying dust storm began in late May 2018 and had persisted as of mid June. By June 10, 2018, as observed at the location of the rover Opportunity, the storm was more Intense than the 2007 dust storm endured by Opportunity. On June 20, 2018, NASA reported that the dust storm had grown to completely cover the entire planet. Observation since the 1950s has shown that the chances of a planet-wide dust storm in a particular Martian year are approximately one in three.

Dust storms contribute to water loss on Mars. A study of dust storms with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggested that 10 percent of the water loss from Mars may have been caused by dust storms. Instruments on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected observed water vapor at very high altitudes during global dust storms. Ultraviolet light from the sun can then break the water apart into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen from the water molecule then escapes into space. The most recent loss of atomic hydrogen from water was found to be largely driven by seasonal processes and dust storms that transport water directly to the upper atmosphere.

Atmospheric electricity

It is thought that Martian dust storms can lead to atmospheric electrical phenomena. Dust grains are known to become electrically charged upon colliding with the ground or with other grains. Theoretical, computational and experimental analyses of lab-scale dusty flows and full-scale dust devils on Earth indicate that self-induced electricity, including lightning, is a common phenomenon in turbulent flows laden with dust. On Mars, this tendency would be compounded by the low pressure of the atmosphere, which would translate into much lower electric fields required for breakdown. As a result, aerodynamic segregation of dust at both meso- and macro-scales could easily lead to a sufficiently large separation of charges to produce local electrical breakdown in dust clouds above the ground.

Nonetheless, in contrast to other planets in the Solar System, no in-situ measurements exist on the surface of Mars to prove these hypotheses. The first attempt to elucidate these unknowns was made by the Schiaparelli EDM lander of the ExoMars mission in 2016, which Included relevant onboard hardware to measure dust electric charges and atmospheric electric fields on Mars. However, the lander failed during the automated landing on October 19, 2016, and crashed on the surface of Mars.

Saltation

The process of geological saltation is quite Important on Mars as a mechanism for adding particulates to the atmosphere. Saltating sand particles have been observed on the MER Spirit rover, Theory and real world observations have not agreed with each other, classical theory missing up to half of real-world saltating particles, A model more closely in accord with real world observations suggests that saltating particles create an electrical field that increases the saltation effect. Mars grains saltate in 100 times higher and longer trajectories and reach 5-10 times higher velocities than Earth grains do.

Repeating northern annular cloud

A large doughnut shaped cloud appears in the north polar region of Mars around the same time every Martian year and of about the same size, 1899 It forms in the morning and dissipates by the Martian afternoon, The outer diameter of the cloud is roughly 1,600 km (1,000 mi), and the inner hole or eye is 320 km (200 ml) across. The cloud is thought to be composed of water-ice, 1901 so it is white in color, unlike the more common dust storms.

It looks like a cyclonic storm, similar to a hurricane, but it does not rotate, The cloud appears during the northern summer and at high latitude. Speculation is that this is due to unique climate conditions near the northern pole. Cyclone-like storms were first detected during the Viking orbital mapping program, but the northern annular cloud is nearly three times larger. The cloud has also been detected by various probes and telescopes including the Hubble and Mars Global Surveyor, Other repeating events are dust storms and dust devils.

Methane presence

Methane (CH4) is chemically unstable in the current oxidizing atmosphere of Mars. It would quickly break down due to ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and chemical reactions with other gases. Therefore, a persistent presence of methane in the atmosphere may imply the existence of a source to continually replenish the gas. Trace amounts of methane, at the level of several parts per billion (ppb), were first reported In Mars's atmosphere by a team at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 2003, Large differences in the abundances were measured between observations taken in 2003 and 2006, which suggested that the methane was locally concentrated and probably seasonal, In 2014, NASA reported that the Curiosity rover detected a tenfold increase (spike) in methane in the atmosphere around it in late 2013 and early 2014. Four measurements taken over two months in this period averaged 7.2 ppb, implying that Mars is episodically producing or releasing methane from an unknown source. Before and after that, readings averaged around one-tenth that level, On 7 June 2018, NASA announced a cyclical seasonal variation in the background level of atmospheric methane.

The principal candidates for the origin of Mars's methane include non-biological processes. such as water-rock reactions, radiolysis of water, and pyrite formation, all of which produce H₂ that could then generate methane and other hydrocarbons via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis with CO and CO2.

It has also been shown that methane could be produced by a process involving water, carbon dioxide, and the mineral olivine, which is known to be common on Mars,

Living microorganisms, such as methanogens, are another possible source, but no other evidence for the presence of such organisms has been found on Mars.

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