Exploratour - The Atmosphere of Mars

Springtime dust storms swirl at the Martian north pole. Picture take by Hubble Space Telescope in 1996.
Click on image for full size

Leave the Tour and read more about the orbit of Mars.

Weather

Now let's talk about bad weather on Mars. Bad weather brings clouds and rain to the surface of the Earth.

Water covers 2/3 of the surface of the Earth. On Mars, there is not nearly as much water around. Because there is so little water in the atmosphere, that means that it is very hard to form clouds. And that means that it may never rain on Mars.

In the next few pages of this tour, we will take a look at the weather on Mars: clouds, storms, and winds.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA