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Bright Streaks and Dark Fans
Full Res JPG (1.8 MB)
23-Jan-2008
Orbiting Camera Details Dramatic Wind Action on Mars
Full Press Release
This Image Shows Dust-Devil Tracks in Southern Schiaparelli Basin
Dust-Devil Tracks in Southern Schiaparelli Basin

Dust-devils are vortices of wind that form when air rising from a warm surface encounters shear in the above atmosphere. Martian dust devils can attain gargantuan proportions, reaching the size of terrestrial tornadoes with plumes that tower up to 9 kilometers above the surface. Dust-devils play an important role in sustaining the aerosols that make up Mars' red sky and in cleaning the Martian surface after a dust storm.

This observation shows a region near the Martian equator that is a perfect tablet for the scribblings of dust-devils. This region is made up of dark bedrock that is thinly blanketed by bright dust. Dark tracks form when dust-devils scour the surface, exposing the darker substrate. The tracks tend to cluster together, as dust-devils repeatedly form over terrain that has been previously scoured and is consequently darker and warmer than the surrounding surface.

Once lofted by a dust-devil, the fine dust can be transported great distances before it settles again onto the surface.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Browse Image | Full Resolution (1.8 MB)

More images at the UA HiRISE site >>
This Image Shows Crater Southwest of Herschel Crater with Dune Field
Crater Southwest of Herschel Crater with Dune Field

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Browse Image | Full Resolution (1.05 MB)

More images at the UA HiRISE site >>

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