Mars almost certainly once held abundant…

Mars almost certainly once held abundant water. Until now, observations have shown that most atmospheric water loss occurs during the Red Planet’s southern summer, when warmer, dustier conditions allow water vapor to rise to high altitudes without condensing and escape into space. In new research, planetary scientists identified a previously unrecognized pathway for water loss — observed, for the first time, during the opposite season. Their results show that a strong, localized and short-lived dust storm in Martian Year 37 (August 2023) drove a surge of water vapor upward during the northern summer.