Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Springtime North Polar Dust Storms
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-321, 12 December 2002
Images Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
Caption by: K. S. Edgett and M. C. Malin, MSSS
As on the Earth, many severe storms brew in the martian polar
regions. Here, temperature contrasts between the cold carbon dioxide
("dry ice") seasonal frost cap and the warm ground adjacent to
it--combined with a flow of cool polar air evaporating off the cap--sweeps
up dust and funnels it into swirling dust storms along the cap
edge. The dust storms shown here were observed during the recent
northern spring by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera
(MOC) in May 2002. The picture is a mosaic of daily global images
from the MOC wide angle cameras. The north polar cap is the bright,
frosty surface at the top.
Images Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Caption by: K. S. Edgett and M. C. Malin, MSSS
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of
Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer
mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego,
CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA
and Denver, CO.
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