"Storm Chasers" on Mars Searching for Dusty Secrets

Storm chasing takes luck and patience on Earth -- and even more so on Mars.

For scientists watching the Red Planet from NASA's orbiters, the past month has been a windfall. "Global" dust storms, where a runaway series of storms create a dust cloud so large they envelop the planet, only appear every six to eight years (that’s 3-4 Mars years). Scientists still don't understand why or how exactly these storms form and evolve.

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Credits: JoAnna Wendel, NASA

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Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The view from May shows Valles Marineris chasms (left), Meridiani center, an autumn dust storm in Acidalia (top) and the early spring south polar cap (bottom).

The view from July shows the same regions, but most of the surface was obscured by the planet-encircling dust cloud and haze.