A top priority in our exploration of
Mars is understanding its present climate, what its climate was like in
the distant past, and the causes of climate change over time.
What's the Martian Climate Like Today?
The current Martian climate is regulated by seasonal changes of the
carbon dioxide ice caps, the movement of large amounts of dust by the
atmosphere and the exchange of water vapor between the surface
and the atmosphere. One of the most dynamic weather patterns on
Mars is the generation of dust storms that generally occur in the
southern spring and summer. These storms can grow to encompass the
whole planet. Understanding how these storms develop and grow is
one goal of future climatic studies.
What Can the Current Climate on Mars Reveal about the Past?
A better understanding of Mars' current
climate will help scientists more effectively model its past climatic behavior.
To do that, we'll need detailed weather maps of the planet and
information about how much dust and water vapor are in the
atmosphere.
Monitoring the planet for this information over one full
Martian year (687 Earth days) will help us understand how Mars behaves
over its seasonal cycle and guide us toward understanding how the
planet changes over millions of years.
The layered terrain of the Martian polar
regions also holds clues about the planet's past, much like the rings of
a tree provide a record of its history. When and how were these polar
layers deposited? Was the climate of Mars ever like that
of Earth? And if so, what happened to change the planet into the dry,
cold, barren desert it is today? Those are the questions that our missions still have to answer.