Mars’s Weirdest Cloud Forms in a Way Scientists Thought Was Impossible
During Mars’s dusty season, which runs through spring and summer in the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere, a wispy cloud of water ice appears downwind of the enormous Arsia Mons volcano. Its bizarre behavior has perplexed scientists ever since. Studying the satellite’s observations has revealed that it is an orographic cloud, which forms when a mass of air is forced upward by elevated terrain.
- ▪During Mars’s dusty season, which runs through spring and summer in the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere, a wispy cloud of water ice appears downwind of the enormous Arsia Mons volcano.
- ▪Its bizarre behavior has perplexed scientists ever since.
- ▪Studying the satellite’s observations has revealed that it is an orographic cloud, which forms when a mass of air is forced upward by elevated terrain.
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| Original publisher | Gizmodo |
| Canonical URL | https://gizmodo.com/marss-weirdest-cloud-forms-in-a-way-scientists-thought-was-impossible-2000823646 |
| Publication time | Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:30:16 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-10-08T20:33:25.724Z |
| Last seen | 2026-10-08T20:33:25.724Z |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | Rwf9W0zaImOa · 1 stories |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
During Mars’s dusty season, which runs through spring and summer in the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere, a wispy cloud of water ice appears downwind of the enormous Arsia Mons volcano. Aptly named the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC), this thin white line forms each day at sunrise, grows up to 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) long in just three hours, detaches from the volcano, and then disappears.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000823646","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"science","SECTION":"space","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"space","TAGS":"esa,mars,physics","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")});…
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