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 148 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."In the simulation, the cloud particles are larger than expected, and they "fall out of the atmosphere more quickly and, thus, result in less cloud mass and a drier atmosphere," Colaprete explained.
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