https://medium.com/extremetech-access/new-image-shows-beginning-stages-of-martian-dust-storm-80bbd9ed0764

The weather on Earth can be extreme and downright awe-inspiring at times, but Mars probably has us beat. The annual storm season on Mars doesn’t include torrential rains, but the dust storms can completely encircle the planet. Mars’ current storm season resulted in one of these monster storms, but they all start off as small waves of dust in the thin Martian atmosphere. The European Space Agency (ESA) just released an image from earlier this year depicting the beginning stages of a Martian dust storm.

Mars has a thin atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide. The planet has seasons, not unlike Earth, which expose the ice caps to more solar energy. As a result, the atmosphere becomes thicker and more able to sweep up Martian fines. That’s what’s happening in the image above, which is the beginning of a large dust storm near the planet’s northern polar region.