Everyday Earth clouds get their start with a bit of salt or dust. Not so the Red Planet's Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud, computer models suggest.

Scientists discovered a remarkable phenomenon on Mars's Arsia Mons volcano — massive water ice clouds each spring, featuring a completely new type of homogeneous ice nucleation. Water vapor directly forms crystals without dust particles in ultra-light structures in near-vacuum conditions. This groundbreaking discovery sheds light on extreme physics and Martian climate dynamics. Nature is truly magnificent. Tools used for generation Text Gemini Narator Azure TTS Clips Pexel Rendering Remotion

A Thousand-Mile Cloud That Should Not Exist

The Angry Astronaut examines the recurring Arsia Mons elongated cloud on Mars, arguing that existing atmospheric models, including exotic homogeneous nucleation scenarios, still fail to reproduce its observed structure and behavior. He proposes an alternative astrobiological hypothesis in which a subsurface microbial or fungal ecosystem in lava tubes beneath Arsia Mons seeds the massive morning plume with spores that act as highly efficient cloud condensation nuclei.

The Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud is a wisp of water ice that appears downwind of the 20-km- (12.4-mile) tall Arsia Mons volcano -- the southernmost in a trio of giant Martian shield volcanoes known collectively as Tharsis Montes -- in the Martian southern hemisphere’s spring and summer.

Bilim insanları, Mars'taki en tuhaf bulutun görünüşe göre sandığımızdan da sıradışı olduğunu belirtiyor. Bilim insanları Arsia Mons Uzun Bulutu'yla (AMEC) yıllardır yakından ilgileniyor. Görsel açıdan son derece çarpıcı olan bu bulut, 1800 kilometreyi aşkın bir alana yayılıyor ve her sabah büyüyüp ardından kayboluyor. fazla oku Bu bölüm, konuyla ilgili referans noktalarını içerir. (Related Nodes field) İlk kez 2018'de keşfedilen bu bulutun o tarihten bu yana her yıl birkaç ay boyunca tekrar ortaya çıktığı gözlemleniyor. Önceki araştırmalar, bunun bir "orografik bulut" olduğunu öne sürüyordu.

YouTube video by B.C. Begley

La sonde Mars Odyssey a récemment capturé une vue inédite du mont Arsia, l'un des plus hauts volcans de Mars.