The first journal article on clouds identified by members of the Cloudspotting on Mars project has been accepted for publication and is now available online. The article “Citizen science project “Cloud Detection on Mars: Seasonal and spatial distributions of cloud observed by the Mars Climate Sounder”” will be published in a special issue Icarus It’s titled “MRO: 16 Years on Mars.” MRO is the Mars Orbiter Reconnaissance Vehicle, while the Mars Climate Sounder is the MRO vehicle.

The article shows various cloud maps showing the times and regions where many clouds were identified. The maps show several significant cloud populations identified in the volunteer data. Cloud populations include altitudinal CO₂ -ice clouds, clouds formed near the poles and dust, water-ice clouds of the season. The structure of clouds corresponds to the pattern of “heat tides”, which are global temperature fluctuations in the atmosphere. Clouds are more common where temperatures are below average.

The document also explains the motivation for the project and explains the Zooniverse setup. It is examined in detail how the cloud definitions made by the participants are transformed into a cloud catalog using machine learning. Project investigator Dr. D., a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We thank everyone involved in Cloudspotting on Mars for advancing this research,” said Marek Slipski.

There is still much to discover in this data set, and more images to analyze online: only 50% of the data for the second year of Mars is complete. Data from Mars’ second year will help reveal how changing dust conditions affect cloud formation.