Summer clouds over Meridiani?

[exoscientist]

I found these on the Unmannedspaceflight.com site:<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2005-12-29/1P189145698EFF64KCP2731L1M1.JPG<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2005-12-29/1P189146928ESF64KCP2731L1M1.JPG<br /><br />I had argued that clouds would be seen over the rover site(s) during the southern Summer as they had been seen over Meridiani during the southern Winter:<br /><br />More on "Frost on the rover solar panels". <br />http://bautforum.com/showpost.php?p=323577&postcount=6<br /><br />Note that thin, high altitude clouds are also visible near the equator in this opposition photo from Hubble:<br /><br />Mars Images — MarsWatch 2005 <br />Images taken by James F. Bell and the Hubble Heritage Team <br />Monday, 07th of November 2005 <br />http://elvis.rowan.edu/marswatch/images/marswatch.php?n=JFB<br /><br />However, I can't tell what is the location of these equatorial clouds in this image if anyone knows that.<br /><br />Since the winter clouds over Meridiani corresponded to frost deposition, they should also correspond to water/ice deposition during this warmer period. <br />I had also argued that these clouds could result in precipitation over the landing sites. However, these are actually thin cirrus-type clouds, not precipitation bearing clouds, so snow/rain would not be expected.<br /><br /><br />Bob Clark <br /> <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

good points. it would seem that cloud cover is not prohibitive necessarily for any particualr season. clouds exist on earth no matter what the season is. elevation and topography will affect the weather, too. so it seems if Mars maintains a dynamic, ableit thin, atmospehre, it will exhibit meteorological diversity during all of it's seasonal changes. cyclonic activity has been observed on Mars, for example. and precipitation from above falling to the ground would seem highly plausible. <br /><br />in a manner of speaking, this happens anyway insofar as dust transport across the planet, which is perpetual. in my opinion, the likelihood of these particles being associated with ice precipitation would seem plausible, ie, CO2 or H20 ice dust. Mars is basically revealing itself to be, at least in part, in surface and subsurface variants, a "slurry" aggregate of ice and dirt. Mars may experience a sort of "marine layer" type of super-fine dust and ice precipitation. the polar ice caps may, at least in part, precipitate out of the air.