Science & Exploration
Spiral storm near the martian North Pole
A spiral-shaped dust storm is visible in this image taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) imager on Mars Express. The mission tracked a series of storms during springtime at the North Pole of the Red Planet in 2019. As the ice-capped pole recedes during spring, intense local storms of dust often brew.
The storms grew and disappeared in cycles over a period of days. This image, taken on 26 May 2019, depicts the formation of a spiral shape whose main arm is approximately 2000 km in length.
A granular pattern of dust cells is visible in the storm, formed by a process called closed-cell convection. This type of convection is also responsible for some cloud patterns on Earth.
