Mars Section        

Records of Significant Events During the 2013-2014 Mars Apparition

Images Showing the South Polar Hood, the South Polar Cap, the Remnant North Polar Cap that is rarely imaged and the First Appearance of the North Polar Hood.


Hellas, the largest known Impact Basin in our Solar System, has its own weather and often generates high winds at the surface that produce dust clouds to overflow its boundaries. Such is probably the case below.

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Images by Manos Kardasis show the South Polar Cap during Winter in the Southern hemisphere. The South Latitude of the Northern edge of the SPC is noted on each image set.


Paul Maxson’s Collage Showing High Resolution Images from March 29, 2014 through June 14, 2014. It is a gold mine of records of the variability in time of features on Mars.

Dust Clouds in the Southern Hemisphere in Mid-Winter!

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Image Sets by Christophe Pellier show fine details in the classical features. Note also how the large cloud deck near the Morning limb retains its form and extent even after Mars rotated 36 degrees.


Superb Drawings of Mars in early Northern Summer by Veteran Mars Observer Carlos E. Hernandez

Many Clouds and North Polar Cap Activity Recorded in Early March as Ice is Transferred from Northern Polar Regions to the Southern Hemisphere.


Stunning wide black stripe imaged on Jan. 6th, 2014 that lengthened through March 3rd as a narrower black stripe as the NPC ice continued to shrink uncovering a very dark surface.


Below is a cutaway of a map of the North Polar Cap at Ls = 90 by Chick Capen made from 1969 observations. See the dark figure extending into the NPC at longitude 60 degrees West that is in the same orientation as in the images. The map also shows Mare Boreum and Mare Acidalium to the South of the NPC exactly as shown in the images.

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Images showing movements of dust clouds on or near the North Polar Cap and a deep Low-pressure center and its
attendant circular shaped dust storm

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Images showing dark ring of sand dunes on North Polar Cap

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First sizable dust clouds recorded by ALPO observers in 2013

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Four Faces of Mars in September 2013 with a diameter of less than 4.4″ showing many small features!

2011/2012 Featured Observations

These 3 images show afternoon white clouds over all of the major Tharsis volcanoes. The first two were imaged a day apart while the 3rd was about one month later. During this period, clouds formed almost daily over volcanoes. Note the dust clouds over the Southern perimeter of the North Polar Cap in the first two images. Winds that develop with the sublimation of ice drive the dust clouds and also produce the dark collar that surrounds the NPC. Also note the dramatic decrease in the size of the NPC in the third image. A cloud appears over Olympus Mons, the largest volcano on Mars near the center of each image.


The conditions were perfect for Freddy Willems to image all of Olympus Mons including the caldera on the summit and the gently sloping apron surrounding the summit. The sun was nearly overhead and some white clouds had formed over the Western side of the apron. Everything matches the topographical map.


Mysterious feature on the Morning Limb recorded well by Mars Observers. It could be the leading edge of an extremely large cloud of dust and ice being swept Eastward from the Hellas basin. Variability of the size of the cloud could explain its varying appearance. Good seeing from Jim Melka.

Evidence of Early Spring Water Vapor Flow from North Polar Cap Southward

Recent drawings of Mars by two ALPO members


Elysium Mons over a 3-month period in 2011




First Records of the North Polar Cap in 2011


Paul Maxson’s Image on August 06, 2011 shows the Hellas dust cloud of August 04 to have spread Eastward as is the normal case.

Jim Melka’s Image on August 04, 2011 shows a typical dust storm in Western Hellas. See the comparison Image to see Hellas as it usually appears when the skies are clear.