The thin soil on Mars can be picked up by high winds to create dust storms that sweep down plains and can sometimes envelop most of the planet . The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft currently orbiting Mars recently photographed such a dust storm raging on Mars' northern plains. The advancing storm front can be seen dividing clear and obscured areas on the photograph on the left . Even away from dust storms , isolated tornado like swirls called dust devils can reach 8-kilometers high and also be created by Martian winds. Studying wind phenomena on Mars provides valuable insight towards understand similar phenomena here on Earth .
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