Mars’ planet‐encircling or global dust storms (GDSs) are an iconic and enigmatic feature of the Red Planet. Occurring every few Mars Years (MYs), on average, they are a stochastic process in the otherwise largely repeatable annual cycle of martian weather. In 2018 (MY 34 in the calendar of Clancy et al. [2000], https://doi.org/10.1029/1999je001089), an international fleet of spacecraft–six orbiters and two rovers–observed the most recent GDS. This introduction and the articles of this special collection describe the evolution and impacts of the storm from the surface to the exosphere, compare this storm to previous GDSs, identify new phenomena never previously seen in such storms, and attempt to determine how and when GDSs develop.

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2018 /火星34年行星环绕沙尘暴的研究

火星环绕行星或全球沙尘暴（GDS）是红色星球的标志性和神秘特征。平均而言，每隔火星年（MYs）发生一次，这是火星天气本来可以重复的年循环中的一个随机过程。在2018年（Clancy等人的日历中的MY 34 [2000]，https：//doi.org/10.1029/1999je001089），国际航天器船队（六个轨道器和两个流动站）观测了最新的GDS。此引言和该特别收藏的文章描述了风暴从地表到大气层的演变和影响，将风暴与以前的GDS进行了比较，确定了在此类风暴中从未见过的新现象，并试图确定GDS如何以及何时发展。