MRO MARCI Weather Report for the week of
25 February 2008 – 2 March 2008

Martian Weather Between 25 February 2008 to 2 March 2008:

The MARCI acquires a global view of the red planet and its weather patterns every day. Please click and play the Quicktime movie (.mov file) to see how the weather on Mars changed during this time.

There was increased dust storm activity at mid-latitudes in both hemispheres this past week. The most notable dust storms were observed in northern Tempe near the seasonal north polar cap edge. The largest of these storms developed during the latter half of the week, becoming almost regional in areal extent. The storm developed a well-defined spiral (counter-clockwise) shape, similar in morphology to a terrestrial low-pressure (cold) front. Dust lofted by the storm was transported as far north as the perennial north polar water ice cap. As for water ice clouds, they continued to be observed over the large volcanoes (Tharsis Montes, Olympus Mons, and Elysium Mons), near the seasonal north polar cap edge, and at southern mid-latitudes.

Earlier Mars Weather Reports are available HERE.

About the Quicktime Movie:
The movie (a .mov file that you can click and play, above) was generated from images obtained by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). During a nominal operational week, a total of about 273 MARCI images, taken in three of the camera’s seven color filter bands (420, 550, and 600 nanometer wavelengths), are map projected and mosaiced together to produce seven false-color daily global maps. These maps are then projected onto a sphere with north at the top and east to the right and with the mid-afternoon vantage point of an observer in the orbital plane (the imaginary plane that the planet draws out as it circles the Sun). Black areas in the movie are the result of data drops or high angle roll maneuvers by the spacecraft that limit the camera’s view of the planet. Equally-spaced blurry areas that run from south-to-north (bottom-to-top) result from the high off-nadir viewing geometry, a product of the spacecraft’s low-orbit, 250 km x 316 km (155 miles x 196 miles). The movie is rendered at a lower resolution than the intrinsic 1–2 km nadir resolution that the MARCI provides, so that it is practical to view and share via the Internet. The small white circles on these images of Mars indicate the locations of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity (on Meridiani Planum) and Spirit (in Gusev Crater). Other locations on Mars referenced in the weather report can be found by referring to the map below. Note that the still image of Mars depicted at the top of this page is a single frame from the Quicktime movie.

Malin Space Science Systems, Inc., San Diego, California, U.S.A.