Dust escape from Mars

The 2018 Global Dust Storm (GDS) has been observed on Mars from the surface and from orbit. Here we focus on the surface temperatures measured locally by REMS/MSL in Gale crater and column dust IR opacities observed globally by Mars Climate Sounder on-board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter  (MCS/MRO) (e.g. Montabone et al., 2020). Recent modeling efforts of the 2018 GDS highlight that climate models do not simultaneously capture both the evolution of surface temperatures and the decay rate of global column dust opacities, which suggests that significant changes in dust particle sizes may occur during the dust storm (e.g. Bertrand et al., 2020, Montabone et al., 2020). These models typically assume a constant lifted dust particle size—with size evolution occurring in the atmosphere but only because of gravitational sedimentation. For instance, simulations with sufficiently large particles sizes to yield reasonable decay/sedimentation rates also provide excessive radiation fluxes at the surface, with excessive surface temperatures during peak dust loading. One possible way to improve the agreement between the simulations and the observations is to allow the dust particle sizes to change more significantly in time and/or space during the simulated GDS.  Particle size evolution toward large radius during GDSs is supported by several observations (e.g. Elteto and Toon, 2010, Lemmon et al., 2019). Different mechanisms could take place during dust storms to shift the dust particle distribution towards a larger effective radius: (1) the lifted particle size at the surface could change due to different active reservoirs or due to depletion of small particles as the storm increases in intensity and (2) the particle size in the atmosphere could change more significantly due to Brownian coagulation (production of large particles by the collisions induced by Brownian motions of the particles in the gas and subsequent sticking together of small particles) and gravitational coagulation (accretion through sedimentation, Murphy et al., 1990, Jacobsen et al., 1999, Montmessin et al., 2002, Fedorova et al., 2014).  Previous studies have explored the impact of coagulation processes and concluded that coagulation only affects smaller particles (

Data acquired by spaceborne spectrometers operating in the visual (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectral ranges, are commonly exploited to derive the microphysical properties of planetary atmospheric aerosols (e.g. Adriani et al., 2015; Sindoni et al., 2017; Fedorova et al., 2024; Oliva et al., 2016; Oliva et al., 2018; D’Aversa et al., 2022). The precision with which these properties can be constrained, depends on several parameters (e.g. optical constants, surface albedo spectrum, particles’ shape and size distribution, ecc.) and on the spectral information content in the data. VIS wavelengths alone (~ 0,4 – 0,7 μm) provide information on aerosols’ composition, particles’ density and sizes, allowing the estimation of the optical depth integrated along the line of sight (Oliva et al., 2016). However, in order to constrain these parameters with enhanced precision, the NIR range (~ 0,7 – 3,0 μm) is also required, since it allows to assess how the spectral shape bends towards longer wavelengths (Oliva et al., 2018).Our goal is to exploit the combined nadir datasets of the UVIS (0.2 – 0.65 µm) and LNO (2.2 – 3.8 µm) channels of the NOMAD spectrometer (Neefs et al., 2015) to contrain the microphysical properties of Martian dust (Oliva et al., 2025). The two spectral ranges present a large gap among each other, and this introduces biases in the retrieved parameters due to the unconstrained spectral information in the missing wavelengths. In order to benchmark these biases, we exploit MEx/OMEGA (Bibring et al., 2004) VNIR (0,35 – 1,05 µm) and SWIR-C (0.93 - 2.73 µm) channels’ data. Such an extended interval allows the retrieval of Martian dust clouds’ height and microphysical properties (e.g. Oliva et al., 2018; D’Aversa et al., 2022), that can be used as a proxy for the NOMAD retrievals. By studying dust’s densities and sizes 1) from the full OMEGA spectrum and 2) from the spectrum only covering UVIS and LNO wavelengths, we can derive the bias in the retrieved parameters. Moreover, this analysis allows to calibrate how many UVIS and LNO spectral points need to be considered in the retrieval, in order to balance the information content of the two channels.Preliminary results suggest that dust densities are systematically overestimated (as well as grains’ sizes to a lesser degree) if NIR wavelengths are completely neglected, while such a bias is reduced if LNO range is taken into account.ReferencesAdriani et al., 2015. Faint luminescent Ring over Saturn’s polar hexagon. Astrophys. J. Lett. 808 (1), 5. L16.Bibring et al., 2004. Omega: Observatoire pour La minéralogie, l’eau, Les Glaces Et l’activité. ESA SP-1240: Mars Express: The Scientific Payload. ESA Publications Division, Estec, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, pp. 37–49.D’Aversa et al., 2022. Vertical distribution of dust in the Martian atmosphere: OMEGA/Mex limb observations. Icarus 371, 114702.Fedorova et al., 2024. Distribution of atmospheric aerosols during the 2007 Mars dust storm (MY 28): Solar infrared occultation observations by SPICAM. Icarus 415, 116030Oliva et al., 2016. Clouds and hazes vertical structure of a Saturn’s giant vortex from Cassini/VIMS-V data analysis. Icarus 278, 215–237.Oliva et al., 2018. Properties of a Martian local dust storm in Atlantis Chaos from OMEGA/MEX data. Icarus.Oliva et al., 2025. Martian dust characterization: reanalysis of TGO/NOMAD UVIS and LNO channels’ nadir data. XX Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie, Pescara, 3-7 Febbraio 2025.Neefs et al, 2015. NOMAD spectrometer on the ExoMars trace gas orbiter mission: part 1—design, manufacturing and testing of the infrared channelsApplied Optics 54, 28, 8494-8520.Sindoni et al., 2017. Characterization of the white ovals on Jupiter’s southern hemisphere using the first data by the Juno/JIRAM instrument. Geophys. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl072940.AcknowledgementsExoMars is a space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos. The NOMAD experiment is led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (IASB- BIRA), assisted by Co-PI teams from Spain (IAA-CSIC), Italy (INAF-IAPS), and the United Kingdom (Open University). This project acknowledges funding by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO), with the financial and contractual coordination by the ESA Prodex Office (PEA 4000103401, 4000121493), by the Spanish MICINN through its Plan Nacional and by European funds under grants PGC2018-101836-B-I00 and ESP2017-87143-R (MINECO/FEDER), as well as by UK Space Agency through grants ST/V002295/1, ST/V005332/1, ST/Y000234/1 and ST/X006549/1 and Italian Space Agency through grant 2018-2-HH.0. The IAA/CSIC team acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the ‘Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa’ award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This work was supported by the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FNRS under grant numbers 30442502 (ET_HOME) and T.0171.16 (CRAMIC) and BELSPO BrainBe SCOOP Project. US investigators were supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Canadian investigators were supported by the Canada Space Agency.

Thermospheric density responses to Martian dust storm in autumn based on MAVEN data

<p>For the first time, four surface stations are currently operating on Mars, three rovers, Curiosity in Gale crater (4.6°S, 137.4°E; since 6 August 2012), Perseverance in Jezero crater (18.4°N, 77.5°E; since 18 February 2021), Zhurong in Utopia Planitia (25.1°N, 109.9°E; since 14 May 2021), and the platform Insight in Elysium Planitia (4.5°N, 135.6°E; since 26 November 2018) [1]. All these stations are equipped with a suite of meteorological sensors and cameras. For the first time, simultaneous data can be obtained on the meteorological magnitudes from the instruments onboard these stations allowing a comparative and complementary study of the global and local atmospheric dynamics of Mars. In addition, a battery of up to 8 orbiters are currently studying the planet [2]. In order to interpret and put in context the meteorological measurements at the surface by these stations, we present here a study of the atmospheric disturbances based of images of Mars obtained from cameras in two orbiters: the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard Mars Express [3], and the MARCI camera onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter [4, 5]. The period covered by this study extends from the arrival of Perseverance (February 2021) and up to the present with VMC images (Ls ~ 5° – 295°) and up to February 2022 with MARCI images (Ls ~ 170°).</p> <p> </p> <p>We first report on the disturbances that evolved at the edge of the North Polar Cap (latitudes ~ 40°N to 70°N) during the springtime season in the northern hemisphere. These are dust storms and synoptic-scale cloud systems with arc, frontal, irregular and spiral shapes, typically growing from the baroclinic instabilities in the intense eastward jet present in this epoch of the Martian year, that leave their imprint in the surface pressure, temperature and winds [6] (Figures 1a-b).  We also report on the evolution of the aphelion cloud belt (Ls ~ 0° – 180°) in the location of the surface stations. Finally, we present an analysis of dust storms that evolved at other latitudes, but taking particular interest in those that formed and evolved at the location of the stations, as was the case in early January 2022 when a regional dust storm impinged the Perseverance rover (Figure 1c).</p> <p><img src="" alt="" width="1020" height="978" /></p> <p><strong>Figure 1. </strong>Images of atmospheric disturbances: (a) MARCI polar map for 1 April 2021 showing dust storms at the edge of the North Polar Cap; (b) VMC image of the annular baroclinic cyclone in 3 November 2021; (c) VMC image showing a regional dust storm approaching Perseverance rover (red cross) in 4 January 2022 (SE = South East).</p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p>[1] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_on_Mars</p> <p>[2] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_orbiters</p> <p>[3] Sánchez-Lavega, A. et al., Icarus 299, 194-205 (2018)</p> <p>[4] Bell III, J. F. et al., J.<em> </em>Geophys. Res. Planets 114, E003315, 1-41 (2009)</p> <p>[5] Ordóñez-Etxeberria, I. et al., in Mars Atmospheric Modelling and Observation, MAMO, Paris, 14-17 June (2022)</p> <p>[6] Barnes, et al., <em>The Global Circulation, in The Atmosphere and Climate of Mars</em> (edts. R. M. Haberle, R. Clancy, F. Forget, M. D. Smith and R. W. Zurek), Chapter 9, pp. 228-294, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. (2017)</p>

Introduction: Recently, air pollution due to the occurrence of dust storms is one of the worst environmental problems in Western and Southwestern Iran, especially the Khuzestan Province (12, 13). According to the reports of the Meteorological Organization of Iran the average number of dusty days in the cities of Ahvaz and Abadan in the Khuzestan Province reaches 68 and 76 days each year, respectively (6). Previous studies have shown that the yearly damage costs of wind erosion and occurrence of dust storms in the Khuzestan Province reach about 30 Billion Rials (5). However, very few studies have been conducted on the characterization of dust particles and also the identification of their origins in Iran, especially the Khuzestan Province. Hojati et al. (10) reported that dust deposition rate, mean particle diameter, and concentration of soluble ions in samples taken from Isfahan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province decrease with altitude, with a significantly lower gradient in periods with dust storms. They reported three factors that control the rate and characteristics of dust deposited across the study transect: 1) climatic conditions at the deposition sites, 2) distance from the dust source, and 3) differences between local and transboundary sources of dust.Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of dust storms on deposition rate, mineralogy and size distribution patterns of dust particles from twelve localities around the Houralazim lagoon. Materials and Methods: Dust samples were collected monthly during a 6 month experiment from August 2011 to February 2012. In order to differentiate between the contribution of dust production by local soils and other sources, surface soils were also sampled from the vicinity of the dust sampling sites. The collection trays were made of a glass surface (100 × 100 cm) covered with a 2 mm-sized PVC mesh on the top to form a rough area for trapping the saltating particles (Fig. 2). Dust samples were collected by scraping materials adhered to the glass trays using a spatula. All the trays were wet cleaned before the next collection. The collected dust and soil samples were examined for their grain size distribution using a Malvern Hydro 2000g laser particle size analyzer, as well as their mineral compositions by a Philips PW1840 X-ray diffractometer and a LEO 906 E transmission electron microscope (TEM). Results and Discussion: The results showed that wind speed and direction patterns during the periods with dust storms and those without dust storms were different. Accordingly, in periods with dust storms (3, 5 and 6) the contribution of winds with speeds greater than 11.1 m/sec, especially from the Northwest direction, increased when compared with those from the periods without dust storms (1, 2 and 4). Besides, the direction of prevailing winds in periods without dust storms were mainly from the West and the Northwest. However, in periods with dust storms East-directed winds were also observed (Fig. 3). These show that the source areas of dust particles in these periods are probably different. The results also illustrated that the average amount of deposited particles in the periods with dust storms (12.5 g m-2 month-1) was considerably more than that of the periods without dust storms (7.5 g m-2 month-1) (Figs. 4 and 5). The difference in dust deposition rate between periods having dust storms and those without dust storms seems to be due to dust input from a source outside the study area. Particle size distribution analysis showed that dust particles collected from the study area in both periods (with and without dust storms) are mainly silt-sized particles. This fraction contributes to 60 to 76 % of the particles collected from periods without dust storms and 66 to 82 % of particles affected by dust storms (Table 2). The results also imply that in both periods (with and without dust storms), dust particles collected from the study area had a bimodal distribution pattern which suggests mixing of settled particles from different sources and/or deposition processes (Fig. 6). Mineralogical composition of dust particles were collected from both periods (with and without dust storms) and those from the soils contained quartz, calcite, feldspar, halite, dolomite and palygorskite (Figs. 7 and 8). Moreover, the TEM images of dust particles collected in periods with dust storms showed higher amounts of palygorskite than in periods without dust storms (Fig. 9). Conclusion: The similarity in the physical properties of local soils and deposited particles of the periods with and without dust storms implies that the contribution of local soils and sediments in producing dust particles is high. However, it seems that in periods with dust storms the contribution of a transboundary origin such as Iraqi arid lands in producing dust particles increases.

Dust devils (convective vortices loaded with dust) are common at the surface of Mars, particularly at Jezero crater, the landing site of the Perseverance rover. They are indicators of atmospheric turbulence and are an important lifting mechanism for the Martian dust cycle. Improving our understanding of dust lifting and atmospheric transport is key for accurate simulation of the dust cycle and for the prediction of dust storms, in addition to being important for future space exploration as grain impacts are implicated in the degradation of hardware on the surface of Mars. Here we describe the sound of a Martian dust devil as recorded by the SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance rover. The dust devil encounter was also simultaneously imaged by the Perseverance rover’s Navigation Camera and observed by several sensors in the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer instrument. Combining these unique multi-sensorial data with modelling, we show that the dust devil was around 25 m large, at least 118 m tall, and passed directly over the rover travelling at approximately 5 m s−1. Acoustic signals of grain impacts recorded during the vortex encounter provide quantitative information about the number density of particles in the vortex. The sound of a Martian dust devil was inaccessible until SuperCam microphone recordings. This chance dust devil encounter demonstrates the potential of acoustic data for resolving the rapid wind structure of the Martian atmosphere and for directly quantifying wind-blown grain fluxes on Mars.

Global dust storms on Mars are rare1,2 but can affect the Martian atmosphere for several months. They can cause changes in atmospheric dynamics and inflation of the atmosphere3, primarily owing to solar heating of the dust3. In turn, changes in atmospheric dynamics can affect the distribution of atmospheric water vapour, with potential implications for the atmospheric photochemistry and climate on Mars4. Recent observations of the water vapour abundance in the Martian atmosphere during dust storm conditions revealed a high-altitude increase in atmospheric water vapour that was more pronounced at high northern latitudes5,6, as well as a decrease in the water column at low latitudes7,8. Here we present concurrent, high-resolution measurements of dust, water and semiheavywater (HDO) at the onset of a global dust storm, obtained by the NOMAD and ACS instruments onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. We report the vertical distribution of the HDO/H2O ratio (D/H) from the planetary boundary layer up to an altitude of 80 kilometres. Our findings suggest that before the onset of the dust storm, HDO abundances were reduced to levels below detectability at altitudes above 40 kilometres. This decrease in HDO coincided with the presence of water-ice clouds. During the storm, an increase in the abundance of H2O and HDO was observed at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometres. We propose that these increased abundances may be the result of warmer temperatures during the dust storm causing stronger atmospheric circulation and preventing ice cloud formation, which may confine water vapour to lower altitudes through gravitational fall and subsequent sublimation of ice crystals3. The observed changes in H2O and HDO abundance occurred within a few days during the development of the dust storm, suggesting a fast impact of dust storms on the Martian atmosphere.

Martian dust, composed of micrometer-sized mineral particles, is a key parameter of the Martian atmosphere because of its high mobility and capacity to form dust storms and alter the heat balance of the atmosphere. These dust storms are part of the Martian dust cycle and can occur over a wide range of spatial and time scales (from sub-km to planetary scale, and from the minute to months). The dust studies are mostly concentrated on regional storms (> 2000 km), which are detected using UV-VIS global imagers [1, 2] or thermal-IR spectrometers [3]. These observations provide information about the frequency and size of the storms. However, some characteristics of the dust cycle remain uncertain, such as the exact mechanisms of storm formation and growth processes, with implications for the predictability of dust storms and Global Dust Storms (GDS, storm at a planetary scale). Thus, it is important to study dust activity at a local scale, such as the local dust storms (< 2000 km) which have not been massively detected (some detections by [2] and a few individual storm characterisations as [4]). We focus our work on detecting dust storms in the OMEGA/Mars Express (near-IR imaging spectrometer) dataset, which has a high enough spatial resolution (0.36-4.8 km/px) to detect local dust storms. More precisely, we develop a method to detect automatically dust storms using dust optical depth computation (at 0.9 µm) made by [5] from late Martian Year 26 to early MY 30 (including the MY 28 GDS). The 1st-level detection is to exclude OMEGA observations that are least likely to contain dust storms (dust optical depth < 1.25). Then the 2nd-level detection principle is to identify pixel clusters of high optical depth within individual observations to identify storms, to confirm the detection using different criteria (e.g., decrease of surface reflectance) and to extract key characteristics of the storm (e.g., size, centroid, local time).Figure 1: Spatial distribution of the dust storms (local and regional) detected with OMEGA/MEx from late MY 26 to early MY 30 (without MY 28 GDS period). The background corresponds to a topography map (MOLA/MGS). With this 2-level method, we detected 287 dust storms (excluding the MY 28 GDS period during which 114 detections have been made) composed of 283 local and 4 regional. Here we summarised our results that will be presented in detail during the conference (notably by separating the local and regional dust storms). From the spatial distribution of the detections (Figure 1), we notice some known preferential areas such as the flushing dust storm channels (e.g., Acidalia-Chryse, Utopia-Isidis, see [1]) or Hellas Planitia, as well as next to the southern polar cap. The seasonal distribution of the detected storms (Figure 2) shows many detections in the Ls=240-270° period, particularly in MY 27, and also during the Ls=330-360° period, notably in MY 29. Interestingly, only a few storms were reported during these periods using UV-VIS imagery [1], suggesting that our method may be capturing local-scale events that were previously undetected. Another strength of OMEGA data is the local time coverage during the Mars Express mission, allowing the study of the time dependence. We noticed many detections from 10:00 to 18:00 with an increase (compared to the OMEGA local time coverage) at the end of the afternoon (16:00-18:00), and also some detections early in the morning (04:00-06:00).Figure 2: Seasonal distribution of the dust storms (local and regional) detected with OMEGA/MEx from late MY 26 to early MY 30 (without MY 28 GDS period). We also worked on the MY 28 GDS onset, for which one doubt remains about the formation area, specifically, whether it originated in Noachis (southern hemisphere) or Chryse (northern hemisphere). More precisely, the question is whether the precursory storm observed in Noachis initiated the GDS independently, or whether it was dependent on the one in Chryse. The consecutive OMEGA observations of these two areas (during the storms) show high dust optical depth values for Noachis and Chryse, but separated from each other by low optical depths, which could be interpreted as two separate clouds, and therefore a GDS onset in Noachis. We are currently working to evaluate the dust altitude by comparing dust optical depth retrievals at different wavelengths [6].

The attachment of positive and negative ions to settling spherical dust particles is studied. A novel 1D numerical model has been developed to parameterize the charging process in the presence of a large-scale electric field. The model is able to self-consistently calculate the modification of atmospheric ion densities in the presence of the dust particles, and the consequent alteration of the atmospheric electrical conductivity and the large-scale electric field. Moreover, the model estimates the acquired electrical charge on the dust particles and calculates the electrical force that is applied on them. Using observed dust size distributions, we find that the particles can acquire electrical charge in the range of 1–1,000 elementary charges depending on their size and number density. The particles become mainly negatively charged, but under specific conditions giant mode particles (larger than 50 μm radius) can be positive. Moreover, the large-scale electric field can increase up to 20 times as much as the fair weather value. However, our approach shows that the resultant electrical force is not enough to significantly influence their gravitational settling, as the ratio between the electrical force magnitude and the gravity magnitude does not exceed the value of 0.01. This indicates that the process of ion attachment alone is not sufficient to create strong electrical effects for the modification of particle dynamics. Therefore, other processes, such as the triboelectric effect and updrafts, must be included in the model to fully represent the impact of electricity on particle dynamics.

Electric forces can enhance the emission of microplastics into air.

The possibility of excitation of oscillations in a Schumann resonator in the atmosphere of Mars is discussed. On Earth, the main source of energy in the resonator cavity are thunderstorms at tropical latitudes. On Mars, electric phenomena are possible during dust events such as dust columns and dust storms. The charging of dust grains in a dust column on the surface of Mars is considered and the possible values of the electric fields generated by the column are determined. Estimates of the amplitude of oscillations in a Schumann resonator on Mars are obtained and compared with the amplitudes of oscillations in a Schumann resonator on Earth.

Mars Atmospheric Wind Map Along the 2018 Global Dust Storm

Dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon and dust particles have been suspected as harmful to heart and lungs. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between coarse particles and emergency hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Hong Kong. Data on mean daily emergency admissions for CVD to major hospitals in Hong Kong, concentrations of air pollutants and meteorological variables from January 1998 to December 2002 were obtained from several government departments. We identified 5 dust storm days during the study period. Independent t-tests were used to compare the mean daily number of admissions on dust storm and non-dust storm days. Case-crossover analysis, using the Poisson regression, was used to examine the effects of coarse particles' concentration on emergency hospital admissions for CVD. A marginally significant increase in emergency hospital admissions for ischemic heart disease (IHD) was found with RR=1.04 (95% confidence interval: 1.00, 1.08) per 10 µg/m(3) increase in the concentration of coarse particles. This study demonstrated a marginally significant increase in emergency hospital admissions for IHD on the day of dust storm events in Hong Kong, when the levels of coarse particles were very high. Further studies are required to assess the role of coarse particles on cardiac health.

Why do some Martian dust storms, in some Mars years, expand to reach planet-encircling status, while the majority do not? In what ways do the largest regional events differ from those that become global? Comparisons of observations from these two categories of events may help answer these questions. The dust storm season of 2018, which included a global-scale dust event, was preceded by five successive dust storm seasons in which only regional-scale events were observed. The recent record thus presents an opportunity for making quantitative comparisons between regional-scale and global-scale dust events. Observations by the Mars Climate Sounder, on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, provide unique 4D information on temperatures and aerosol loading of the Mars atmosphere, to altitudes of >80 km. Available MCS observations span the past eight Mars years. We have previously employed MCS observations to characterize the evolution in latitude, longitude, and altitude of atmospheric dust clouds during the initiation phase of the 2018 global event. Other atmospheric fields provide complementary information. For instance, observed changes with time in atmospheric ‘dynamical heating’ also help characterize the response of the Mars atmosphere to added dust loading. In this process, the atmosphere in regions far removed from the locations where dust is lifted may be warmed by adiabatic compression within the descending branches of Hadley-like meridional circulation cells. We will present and interpret MCS observations of these and other phenomena for selected large regional-scale dust events of Mars Years 29-33 (from 2009 through 2017), and draw comparisons with observations obtained during the 2018 global event. We will additionally explore the implications of the results within the context of current hypotheses for the triggering of the largest dust storms on sub-seasonal time scales.

In radio-frequency capacitively coupled dusty plasma discharge, the grooves on the lower electrode plate significantly modify the electric potential distribution in the sheath region, thereby influencing the collective dynamic behavior of dust particles. Experimentally, when micrometer-sized dust particles are injected into the discharge chamber, a distinct layer of dust particles forms above the groove-induced potential well, exhibiting a characteristic bowl-shaped cloud structure. The volume of the dust cloud shows a strong dependence on RF power and discharge pressure. As power increases or pressure decreases, the dust cloud moves upward due to the influence of axial force on the particles. Besides, dust voids form in the middle of each dust layer, and their diameter evolution is influenced by particle number, RF power, and pressure. Particularly, when the diameters of the electrode grooves are small, the diameters of the dust voids first increase, then decrease and finally disappear as discharge pressure increases. Furthermore, a hybrid model is theoretically established. This model couples a fluid model with a dust particle model to explain the collective behavior of dust particles. This behavior is governed by the resultant axial force which includes axial electric field force, ion drag force, and gravity, as well as the resultant radial force, which considers radial electric field force and ion drag force. It is also found that in the DC-overlapped RF plasma, the suspension height of dust particles first increases and then decreases as the negative DC bias is increased. The change in dust particle height can reflect the transition of plasma discharge from α -mode to γ -mode.