(CNN)Can you imagine how beautiful it might be to witness snow falling on the rust-colored surface of Mars or a steady rain of glittering diamonds on blue Neptune?
No, these aren't images from Prince or David Bowie's lyric journals or scenes from some galactic version of "Game of Thrones." Rather, two studies published this week suggest what weather might be like on Mars, Neptune, and Uranus.
Martian snow by night
The Phoenix Mars Lander detected snowfall on the Red Planet in 2009 using a laser instrument to observe how the atmosphere and surface interact. But the other rovers and landers that we've sent to Mars haven't been equipped with this tool.
Aymeric Spiga, a researcher at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique in Paris, wanted to take those observations from the Phoenix Lander and apply his expertise in numerical modeling of planetary atmospheres to reveal more about this weather we can't see.
"I like to unveil the physics which underlie the behavior of clouds and weather in extraterrestrial planets," Spiga wrote in an email. "I feel like an extraterrestrial weather forecaster."
Why, and how, did snow fall on Mars? And why wasn't there more evidence for it?
During the Martian day, cloud particles absorb visible light to warm the atmosphere. But at night, in areas where the conditions are just right for water-ice clouds to form, it can lead to icy precipitation.
Spiga's study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
By combining computer models and the lander's observations, Spiga and his colleagues discovered that this nighttime phenomenon results in "microbursts" of snowstorms, some of which could last hours.
"Those storms happen because water-ice particles within clouds are very efficient at emitting infrared light at night," Spiga said. "So clouds strongly cool the atmosphere nearby. This creates a very cold layer of air on top of a warmer layer of air. This causes convection and strong winds and mixing ensure."
So why haven't the rovers captured images of snow piled on the Martian surface? In the instance of the Phoenix Lander's detection, the snow evaporated before it hit the ground.
"Some snowstorms would be too high in the atmosphere for snowfall to reach the surface," Spiga wrote. "But one thing is for sure: The quantity of ice accumulating on the surface would be much less than on the Earth, and in some regions, this ice would sublimating immediately the next morning. So no snowmen or ski station on Mars!"
Spiga likened this phenomenon to micro bursts on Earth, often seen as clouds with little streaks on the bottom. This is called virga: rain that evaporates before reaching the ground.
Going forward, Spiga and his colleagues want to explore the diversity of snowstorms that might happen on Mars and how they would impact the planet's water cycle. This could also help them take a look into Mars' past and the history of its water ice deposits, as well as look ahead by applying their models to exoplanets.
"Since water-ice clouds on Mars create strong winds, our work can also be used to design future landing and flying systems in the atmosphere of Mars," Spiga said.
Diamond layers on icy planets
Farther out in the solar system are Uranus and Neptune, two ice giants that get their distinct blue color from methane atmospheres. Although both planets are largely made up of fluids and gases, they have rocky cores. Weather-wise, high winds are associated with these ice giants, and Voyager 2 once tracked a storm on Neptune that was large enough to contain the entire Earth, according to NASA. Read more...
No, these aren't images from Prince or David Bowie's lyric journals or scenes from some galactic version of "Game of Thrones." Rather, two studies published this week suggest what weather might be like on Mars, Neptune, and Uranus.
Martian snow by night
The Phoenix Mars Lander detected snowfall on the Red Planet in 2009 using a laser instrument to observe how the atmosphere and surface interact. But the other rovers and landers that we've sent to Mars haven't been equipped with this tool.
Aymeric Spiga, a researcher at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique in Paris, wanted to take those observations from the Phoenix Lander and apply his expertise in numerical modeling of planetary atmospheres to reveal more about this weather we can't see.
"I like to unveil the physics which underlie the behavior of clouds and weather in extraterrestrial planets," Spiga wrote in an email. "I feel like an extraterrestrial weather forecaster."
Why, and how, did snow fall on Mars? And why wasn't there more evidence for it?
During the Martian day, cloud particles absorb visible light to warm the atmosphere. But at night, in areas where the conditions are just right for water-ice clouds to form, it can lead to icy precipitation.
Spiga's study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
By combining computer models and the lander's observations, Spiga and his colleagues discovered that this nighttime phenomenon results in "microbursts" of snowstorms, some of which could last hours.
"Those storms happen because water-ice particles within clouds are very efficient at emitting infrared light at night," Spiga said. "So clouds strongly cool the atmosphere nearby. This creates a very cold layer of air on top of a warmer layer of air. This causes convection and strong winds and mixing ensure."
So why haven't the rovers captured images of snow piled on the Martian surface? In the instance of the Phoenix Lander's detection, the snow evaporated before it hit the ground.
"Some snowstorms would be too high in the atmosphere for snowfall to reach the surface," Spiga wrote. "But one thing is for sure: The quantity of ice accumulating on the surface would be much less than on the Earth, and in some regions, this ice would sublimating immediately the next morning. So no snowmen or ski station on Mars!"
Spiga likened this phenomenon to micro bursts on Earth, often seen as clouds with little streaks on the bottom. This is called virga: rain that evaporates before reaching the ground.
Going forward, Spiga and his colleagues want to explore the diversity of snowstorms that might happen on Mars and how they would impact the planet's water cycle. This could also help them take a look into Mars' past and the history of its water ice deposits, as well as look ahead by applying their models to exoplanets.
"Since water-ice clouds on Mars create strong winds, our work can also be used to design future landing and flying systems in the atmosphere of Mars," Spiga said.
Diamond layers on icy planets
Farther out in the solar system are Uranus and Neptune, two ice giants that get their distinct blue color from methane atmospheres. Although both planets are largely made up of fluids and gases, they have rocky cores. Weather-wise, high winds are associated with these ice giants, and Voyager 2 once tracked a storm on Neptune that was large enough to contain the entire Earth, according to NASA. Read more...