Available soon: Martian weather forecasts

Texas A&M professor of atmospheric sciences Istvan Szunyogh has been awarded a NASA grant to analyze and forecast Martian weather. This might present extra challenges, because the Martian atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as Earth's and planet-encircling dust storms obscure everything for months every two to four years. Some wonder whether there is weather--as Earth dwellers usually speak of it--on Mars, though Mars is the most Earth-like planet we know, so far. Yet NASA's Phoenix Mission shows long-term Martian climate cycles. Szunyogh is working with a team from the University of Maryland and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. to forecast Martian weather using data obtained from available remotely sensed Martian observations. Weather forecasting on Earth is based upon solid data and circulation models of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, wind and air pressure, explains Szunyogh. He states that the main goal of his project is to set up the possibility of obtaining accurate, quantitative estimates of Martian atmospheric parameters so data can be fed into circulation models, producing Martian weather forecasts. The ability to predict weather on Mars will increase chances of success for robotic exploration missions and will prove indispensable to astronauts, says Mark Lemmon, a Texas A&M professor of atmospheric sciences who has led and participated in many Mars exploratory events. According to Lemmon, the ability to predict where Martian winds are the most likely to clear away dust clouds, allowing solar batteries to recharge more often, would help scientists plan the best landing sites for future Mars missions.