The opposition of Mars, 2014: Part II
In Part II we describe the usual seasonal meteorological indicators such as the Tharsis orographic clouds and the Equatorial Cloud Band (ECB). The ECB was observed to be complete during Ls = 051 to 145° and observations of the Syrtis Blue Cloud were frequently made. In 2014 the N. polar spiral clouds at the edge of the summer cap were particularly well observed from Ls = 117°. Their morphology was observed to change with time, and those clouds over Baltia occurred seasonally earlier than similar features over Utopia. The transition from N. polar cap to hood occurred during Ls = 153 to 162°. The early stages of the recession of the N. polar cap occurred too close to solar conjunction to be well observed, but the later stages were followed quantitatively and the data compared with previous years.
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