Every so often, all we see of Mars is an orb covered by dust from the wind. Understanding how and why the planet sometimes becomes completely engulfed in grit will help scientists better predict that phenomenon. Such foresight could be essential to the success of future missions there.
A team of scientists from Colorado University at Boulder have taken steps toward forecasting the storms. Heshani Pieris, a graduate student there, presented data at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2024.
“Dust storms have a significant effect on rovers and landers on Mars, not to mention what will happen during future crewed missions to Mars,” Pieris said in a press release. “This dust is very light and sticks to everything.”
In 2018, for example, a global dust storm smothered the solar panels on NASA’s Opportunity rover. The rover died not long after.
Understanding Martian Dust Storms
The team looked at two storms the planet experienced every Mars year (687 Earth days). They drew from data collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over eight Mars years (15 years on Earth). Those storms tended to start at the planet’s poles, then move toward its equator.
They noticed that stretches of warm weather — when more sunlight penetrated the planet’s thin atmosphere and scorched its surface — appeared to precede the storms. A sharp rise in surface temperature was linked to about 68 percent of major Mars storms.
“It’s almost like Mars has to wait for the air to get clear enough to form a major dust storm,” Paul Hayne, a CU astrophysicist and co-author of the study said in a press release.
Read More: 5 Planets with Extreme (and Weird) Weather Patterns in Our Solar System
Clearing for Dust Takeoff
The scientists say they don’t yet have enough data to definitively say that the hot, dry spells cause the storms — only that those conditions are associated with them. However, they note the patterns are not unlike similar situations on Earth.
For example, during hot Colorado summers, warm air near the ground sometimes rises quickly into the atmosphere. That sudden buoyancy can sometimes carry dust into the air. However, Haynes noted their understanding of how this might happen on Mars is still primitive.
“We don’t even fully understand the basic physics of how dust storms start at the surface,” Haynes said.
The researchers are now gathering more recent data. They aim to better understand the planet’s weather patterns, with the goal of predicting storms within weeks.
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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
