Intense snowstorms strike Red planet only at night

Mars is buffeted by turbulent snowstorms that occur only at night, according to a study released that revises our understanding of Red Planet weather. Up to now, it was thought that snow falling from low-lying Martian clouds settled slowly and sparsely to the ground in an environment bereft of violent winds.

The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggest that icewater particles swirling in a storm hit the ground within minutes, rather than descending gently for hours. But future colonists from Earth needn’t bother packing snow shoes, the lead researcher told AFP.

“It’s not as if you could make a snowman or ski,” said Aymeric Spiga, an expert on the dynamics of planetary atmospheres at Universite Pierre Curie in Paris. “Standing on the surface of Mars you wouldn’t see a thick blanket of snow — more like a generous layer of frost.”

The atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth’s, though still thick enough to support weather, including clouds and wind. But there’s very little moisture. Indeed, the Red Planet is essentially a bone-cold

In the Martian arctic, however, water ice lurks just under a layer of dust.This was detected up close by NASA’s Phoenix lander, which scraped below the planet’s surface with a shovel in 2008.

desert with virtually no liquid water on its surface.

In the Martian arctic, however, water ice lurks just under a layer of dust. This was detected up close by NASA’s Phoenix lander, which scraped below the planet’s surface with a shovel in 2008. The stationary robot lab also analysed local weather, detecting signs of precipitation below waterice clouds.

A pair of orbiting satellites also picked up clues suggesting night-time weather, especially over the northern polar region.