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Mysterious White Cloud Hangs Over Martian Volcano (vice.com)
Last month, the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter spotted a white cloud suspended over the western slope of Arsia Mons, an enormous volcano near the red planet's equator. The 930-mile-long cloud looks like the kind of volcanic plumes huffed out by Earth's active volcanoes -- but it's not; "Arsia Mons is long extinct -- its last eruption is estimated to have occurred around 50 million years ago," reports Motherboard. From the report: The volcano still plays a role in shaping the water-ice cloud, though, along with atmospheric dust levels and the Martian seasons. With its 12-mile-high peak and diameter of nearly 400 miles, Arsia Mons is 30 times more voluminous than the largest volcanoes on Earth. Its humongous bulk condenses and cools air currents as they pass over the summit, creating this âoeorographic cloudâ -- a nephologic formation that tend to form over leeward (downwind) slopes -- on the western flank of the volcano.
We have a new... er... Martian Pope!
Really, clickbait to a site which describes it as "a booger?" How about a link to the source.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Maybe it is being made by the Mysterons? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
We know that you can hear us Earthmen.
Oh, please! Everyone knows the Martian cannons have a GREEN flash, not a white one....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Lenticular clouds are also created by air currents being lifted over mountains (or other terrain features). But they tend to disappear a short distance downwind of this point due to the air descending and the condensation re-evaporating. Either meteorology and thermodynamics are vastly different on Mars than on Earth, or this appears to be some gas venting from the summit.
Have gnu, will travel.