Clouds over Mars contain less water than previously thought, according to new research using simulated clouds in a lab here on Earth.
The clouds under study are made of water ice, like some clouds on Earth, said Tony Colaprete of NASA’s Ames Research Center.
“However, they are forming at very cold temperatures, often below minus 100 degrees Celsius (minus 212 degrees Fahrenheit),” Colaprete said “What we have found in our laboratory studies is that it is much harder to initiate cloud formation at these cloud temperatures than what we thought.”