Even small Mars dust storms dry out the Red Planet, scientists find
As dust spreads through the Martian atmosphere, it pushes water vapor high into the reddish sky, where ultraviolet rays break its molecules apart.
rThanks to data from three different Mars orbiters, scientists have determined that small, local dust storms, like their much larger counterparts, play a key role in drying out the Red Planet.
Martian dust storms can spread across the whole planet and envelope it in darkness. For a long time, planetary scientists have known that those behemoth storms were responsible for wicking away the planet's water. But Mars was once a lush world, oceans and all, and the large dust storms can't explain the full magnitude of Mars' water loss. According to new research, smaller local dust storms, too, are drying out the Red Planet as well.
"This paper helps us virtually go back in time and say, 'OK, now we have another way to lose water that will help us relate this little water we have on Mars today with the humongous amount of water we had in the past," Geronimo Villanueva, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement.
