Clouds are a familiar feature in the atmospheres of planets. Because they can both warm and cool the atmosphere, they are important for understanding the weather and climate of planets. On Mars, icy clouds can form high in the atmosphere (above 50 km, about 30 miles up), the "mesosphere," called "mesospheric clouds". These clouds are interesting for several reasons. Although Mars is a dry planet, there is water vapor in the atmosphere that can from water-ice clouds. However, because the atmosphere of Mars is made up almost entirely (95%) of carbon-dioxide and it is cold, carbon-dioxide ice (think dry ice!) clouds can also form.
Some important questions about these clouds:
What causes the atmosphere to get cold enough for carbon-dioxide to freeze out?
How do clouds change from day to night, or during different seasons, or in some years more than others?
What are the clouds made of?
Our goal with this project is to first find and map these clouds to create a database that will help answer such questions.
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Go to zooniverse.org, sign in, and click ‘More Stats’. Use the drop-down options on the upper-right of the stats bar chart to filter to a specific time period and/or project of interest. Then click on ‘Generate Volunteer Certificate’ (the button to the bottom-right of your stats bar chart).
