Why does Mars no longer have water? Huge dust towers on the planet may hide the answer!

Like a space elevator, this phenomenon can give an explanation of how water disappeared from the surface of the Red Planet in the distant past.

On Earth, storms are usually events that take place in a certain area, but on Mars, things are a little different. About once every decade, Mars suffers from a massive dust storm impacting the planet on a global scale. Called the "planetary dust event (PEDE)," these storms affect the weather of Mars for months at a time. Such a storm came out in 2018 - a massive dust storm across the globe, covering the entire planet, making everything appear a dull yellow and bringing NASA's Opportunity exploration mission to an end. completely.

Every 10 years, Mars is subjected to a huge dust storm affecting the planet on a global scale.

Two new studies, led by Nicholas Heavens from the University of Hampton and the Institute of Space Science, have investigated a strange meteorological phenomenon that took place during the aforementioned global storms: giant dust towers. through the upper atmosphere , some as high as 70km. Studies have given us new insights into those mysterious dust towers, and how they may have contributed to the loss of water on Mars.

Heavens and colleagues studied two PEDEs, one that took place in 2007, and the other last year, to better understand dust towers, by studying the data collected by Mars Reconnaissance. (MRO) by NASA. MRO is equipped with a specialized device capable of sensing heat called Mars Climate Sounder. This device may penetrate thick layers of dust. The researchers also studied images of dust towers taken by the Mars Context Imager satellite (MARCI).

Mars in normal conditions (left) and in the global dust storm 2018 (right).

The study shows that dust towers are denser and have a higher level of material concentration than ordinary dust clouds that exist in the Martian atmosphere, and they "climb" much higher. These rotating giant dust pillars can occur when Mars is in normal conditions, but many of them form during the PEDE.

These dust towers start on the planet's surface, in the form of high-speed dust storage areas, some as wide as Rhode Island. Sunlight warms these dust clouds, sending dust winds up in the sky of Mars - a process similar to the insulation of condensed steam that creates thunderstorms on Earth. At an altitude of about 70km, these dust towers can reach the width of Nevada (USA). In the process of decay, it may form a layer of dust located 56 km off the surface of the planet, possibly larger than the continental United States - according to NASA.

Unlike the storm observed in 2007, in which dust towers only last for 1-2 days, PEDE in 2018 created dust towers that lasted for nearly 4 weeks.

It is a remarkable phenomenon, because the steam trapped in these dust towers will be "pulled" away - many of which will be blown into space. These dust towers can be considered as a transport system for other materials as well as gas, including steam. In 2007, scientists observed that water molecules were transferred to the upper layer of the Martian atmosphere, at an altitude where solar radiation caused these water molecules to disintegrate and fly into space. This is most likely a clue to how Mars has lost its surface water - long ago flooded rivers and lakes on the red planet - like.

In the future, researchers expect to learn more about dust towers and how they were formed, and their role in removing water from Mars' atmosphere.

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