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We analyze the onset and initial expansion of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm (GDS 2018) using ground‐based images in the visual range. This is the first case of a confirmed GDS initiating in the Northern Hemisphere. A dusty area extending about 1.4×105 km2 and centered at latitude +31.7°±1.8° and west longitude 18°±5°W in Acidalia Planitia was captured on 30 and 31 May 2018 (Ls = 184.9°). From 1 to 8 June, daily image series showed the storm expanding southward along the Acidalia corridor with velocities of 5 m/s and simultaneously progressing eastward and westward with horizontal velocities ranging from 5 to 40 m/s. By 8 June the dust reached latitude ‐55° and later penetrated in the South polar region, whereas in the North the dust progression stopped at latitude approximately +46°. We compare the onset and expansion stage of this GDS with the previous confirmed storms. Key Points: May‐June 2018 ground‐based images show the onset and early evolution of a Martian Global Dust Storm (GDS)The outbreak took place at location (North hemisphere) and time (solar longitude 184.9°) unusual for most GDSsThe expansion involved horizontal velocities in all directions in the range 5‐40 m/s [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this paper, we present the results of our detailed study of morphology, topography, and age of the Deuteronilus contact that outlines Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF) in the northern plains and the Isidis Planitia unit. The Deuteronilus contact represents a sharp and distinct geological boundary that can be traced continuously for many hundreds to thousands of kilometers. In the northern plains, segments of the Deuteronilus contact occur at two distinct topographic levels. In the northern plains, the long-wavelength topography of the Deuteronilus contact occur at two distinct topographic levels. In the Tempe, Chryse, Acidalia, and Cydonia-Deuteronilus regions (the total length is ∼14,000 km), the contact is at the mean elevation of about −3.92 km (the decile range is 180 m, from −4.01 km to −3.83 km). In the Pyramus-Astapus, Utopia, and Western Elysium regions (the total length is ∼7700 km), the mean elevation of the contact is about −3.58 km (the decile range is 270 m, from −3.73 km to −3.46 km). These levels to large extent (but not completely) correspond to the model geoids that may have been characterized the shape of Mars at the time of the VBF emplacement. Largest deviations of the actual topographic position of the contact from the model geoids occur in the Tantalus and Phlegra regions where the deviations are due to the post-VBF changes of the regional topography. The fact that the model geoids satisfactory describe the shape of the largest portion of the contact provides additional evidence for both the emplacement of the VBF edges near an equipotential surface and for relative stability of the shape of Mars during a long time interval of about 3.6 Ga. Within the northern plains in the Tempe Terra, Acidalia Planitia, Cydonia-Deuteronilus, Pyramus-Astapus, and the southern Utopia regions, the absolute model ages of the VBF surface near the Deuteronilus contact are tightly clustered around the age of ∼3.6 Ga, which we interpret as the age of the VBF emplacement. The surface of the VBF-like Isidis Planitia unit is distinctly younger, ∼3.50 ± 0.01 Ga, which suggests that this unit formed independently. Neither volcanic nor glacial modes of emplacement are consistent with the topographic configuration and the shape of the Deuteronilus contact within both the northern plains and in Isidis Planitia. The broad flooding and formation of extensive water/mud reservoirs remains to be the most plausible mode of formation of the VBF in the northern plains and the VBF-like unit on the floor of the Isidis basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the climatology of “textured dust storms”, those dust storms that have visible structure on their cloud tops that are indicative of active dust lifting, as observed in Mars Daily Global Maps produced from Mars Orbiter Camera wide-angle images. Textured dust storms predominantly occur in the equinox seasons while both solstice periods experience a planet-wide “pause” in textured dust storm activity. These pauses correspond to concurrent decreases in global atmospheric dust opacity. Textured dust storms most frequently occur in Acidalia Planitia, Chryse Planitia, Arcadia Planitia, and Hellas basin. To examine the nature of the link between textured dust storms and atmospheric dust opacity, we compare the textured dust storm climatology with a record of atmospheric dust opacity and find a peak global correlation coefficient of approximately 0.5 with a lag of 20–40° in solar longitude in the opacity compared to the solar climatology. This implies that textured dust storms observed at 1400 local time by MOC are responsible for a large fraction of atmospheric dust opacity and that other mechanisms (e.g., dust devil lifting or storm-scale lifting not observed in this study) may supply a comparable amount of dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utopia and Acidalia Planitiae show a set of similar morphologic features indicative of the presence of large reservoirs of water/mud in these regional topographic lows. The most important of these features are: (1) impact crater ejecta morphology that progressively changes from ballistic/rampart at the basins periphery to strongly degraded pancake-like in the central portions of the basins, and (2) etched flows (interpreted as mudflows) that are concentrated in those regions of the central portions of both basins where the pancake-like ejecta prevail. The Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF) in Utopia and Acidalia Planitiae represents the uppermost stratigraphic limit of possible reservoirs in both basins and has practically the same age in these regions; ∼3.57 (±0.02) Ga in Utopia Planitia and ∼3.61 (+0.05/−0.08) Ga in Acidalia Planitia. The southern contact of the VBF closely follows specific contour lines in Utopia Planitia (∼−3.6 km ± 54 m, over a distance of ∼1500 km) and Acidalia Planitia (∼−3.9 km ± 70 m, over the distance of ∼6000 km). The presence of the large water/mud reservoirs and the age and topographic configuration of the VBF in Utopia and Acidalia Planitiae are consistent with the existence of an extensive single body of water (an ocean) in the northern plains of Mars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A northern ocean of Mars is still debated and, if it existed, it may have accompanied valley networks and/or outflow channels, which may have led to the emplacement of a large amount of water to the northern lowlands during the Noachian and/or Hesperian times. However, it is unclear how and under what conditions (submarine or subaerial) geologic features such as mounds and giant polygons formed in the northern lowlands. The densely-distributed mounds in Chryse and Acidalia Planitia, >1000 km-wide basins of the northern plains, were suggested to be ancient mud volcanoes formed in an aqueous setting, which is controversial (i.e., mud vs. igneous and submarine vs. subaerial). However, these mounds have not been quantitatively well characterized, particularly with respect to their detailed topography. Here we generated forty digital elevation models (DEMs) with resolution of up to 1 m/pixel from High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) stereo image pairs, and we accurately measured the morphometric parameters of ~1300 mounds within the southern part of the Acidalia basin. Their heights and diameters resulted in good accordance with those of mud and igneous volcanoes in submarine/subaerial settings on Earth. Maximum depths of their source reservoirs vary from ~30 to ~450 m for a subaqueous setting and from ~110 to ~860 m for a subaerial setting, both of which are consistent with fluid expulsion from the ~100–4500 m-thick flood deposits (Vastitas Borealis Formation, VBF). On the basis of the morphometric values, we estimated rheological properties of materials forming the mounds and found them consistent with a mud flow origin, which does not rule out an igneous origin. The conditions of possible submarine mud or igneous volcanoes may have harbored less hazardous environments for past life on Mars than those on an ocean-free surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]