Framed Print of The 2001 Great Dust Storms on Mars

October 13, 2001 - The 2001 Great Dust Storms. Although dust storms occur year-round on Mars, they often occur in greater numbers during certain seasons. In particular, it has long been known from Earth-based telescopic observations that the largest, global dust events (those that enshroud the entire planet) occur during the southern spring and summer. As the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission began to monitor this period for the second time, particular attention was paid to local and regional dust storms in anticipation of capturing high spatial-and time-resolution observations of the start of a global storm.
Throughout the month of June 2001, the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) routinely accumulated low resolution (7.5 km/pixel) global maps of Mars on an orbit-by-orbit basis. A moderately large number of local dust storms were noted, especially along the retreating margin of the seasonal south polar CO2 frost cap and around the large and deep Hellas impact basin that dominates the southern, eastern highlands. On June 21, an otherwise undistinguished small dust storm surged into the basin from the southwest. When viewed 24 hours later, the storm had circulated clockwise about 1/3 of the circumference of Hellas, indicating relatively high winds. For the next three days, this storm brewed north of Hellas and east towards Hesperia, but didn t cross the equator. Then, sometime between 2 PM local Mars time on June 25 and 2 PM local Mars time on June 26, the storm exploded north across the equator, and in less than 24 hours thereafter, dust was being raised from separate locations in Arabia, Nilosyrtis, and Hesperia, thousands of kilometers away from Hellas. This was the start of the long-anticipated global dust event.
Over the following week, dust injected high into the stratosphere during the initial Hellas and Hesperia storms drifted eastward, carried by the prevailing south circumpolar jet stream. Beneath this veil of dust, an intense wind front moved across Mars, setting up conditions for many other local and regional dust storms. By July 4, a large regional storm was raging between Daedalia Planitia south of the Tharsis volcanoes and Syria Planum (just south of Labyrinthus Noctis). Another storm was raising plumes of dust in north central Noachis/southwestern Meridiani. Plumes were rising in Hesperia but not Hellas.
Throughout July and August, MOC observations revealed a general pattern of regional storm centers beneath an ever-spreading veil of stratospheric dust. The Daedalia/Claritas/Syria storm created dust plumes on over 90 consecutive days. Stocktrek Images specializes in Astronomy, Dinosaurs, Medical, Military Forces, Ocean Life, & Sci-Fi. © Stocktrek Images

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