Textured dust storms on Mars

Astronomers studying Mars first noted the presence of yellow clouds on its surface in the 1870's. Today these windblown dust storms on Mars are well known, and can span local, regional or even global in scale. Storms can display visible structures, sometimes periodic with wavelike features, or in other cases streaky or plume-like. Storms with structures are called "textured dust storms" and they result from strong winds or other meteorological effects that lift dust into the Martian atmosphere.