Devils & Dunes

Palomar · 2004-05-26 15:10:32

In my travels around Mars , I have found the Argyre Basin is a great place to hunt for dust devil tracks...
To get these vortex, you need a warm and cold air mixing. A good place for this is around hills or craters. That is why many dust devil tracks start at hills or craters.
Check out this dust devil;...
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/may … 00/layers/

*Hi REB, thanks. Some of those pics require sharp eyes. The bottom pic, yes -- especially nice.

All pics of dust devils I've seen are, of course, taken in black-and-white. So I've come to think of them as being white in appearance. :-\ I happened upon an artist's conception of a dust devil on Mars; he'd created the dust devil a deep rusty color (logical).

I have yet to see a color pic of a dust devil, IIRC. Wish a few devils would run over S & O -- I mean a veritable *horde* of them! :laugh:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-06-01 07:42:12

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … html]Dunes in Noachis Terra

*The upper dunes resemble martini glasses, IMO. From MGS/MOC; pic released just last week.

It'd be cool to see a pictoral encyclopedia (or something akin) of Marsian dunes -- i.e. to see which type/form is the most prevalent, etc.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Check out the rounded depression (crater?) near the bottom...looks like a good quantity of sand has spilled into it.

Palomar · 2004-06-24 06:52:53

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13194]Lone little dust devil whirling its away along western (ooooo...that's so fitting!) Tithonium Chasma.

Pic taken April 12.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-06-24 07:56:54

Hmmm ... I don't know, Cindy. ???

Wishing for dust-devils over Spirit and Opportunity might cause a faster build-up of dust on the solar panels and, well .. you know what that would mean .. ?!!

On the other hand, I suppose it's feasible that the dust that's already accumulated on the panels may actually be swept away by the high winds in a dust-devil.
Naaahh!! I don't want to take the risk.

Palomar · 2004-06-29 08:12:49

Hmmm ... I don't know, Cindy. ???
Wishing for dust-devils over Spirit and Opportunity might cause a faster build-up of dust on the solar panels and, well .. you know what that would mean .. ?!!

On the other hand, I suppose it's feasible that the dust that's already accumulated on the panels may actually be swept away by the high winds in a dust-devil.
Naaahh!! I don't want to take the risk.

*Shaun...the dust devil would take away all that excess dust with it. And give a shine to boot, maybe. :laugh:

Anyway, I would like for at least 1 dust devil to go over one of the MERs.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … aterpillar Dunes Pic released June 28 -- yesterday; taken in April (southern hemisphere). Cute dunes!

***

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 233]Noctus Labyrinthus -- day/night infrared images

***

Neither devil nor dune, but I'll chuck this in anyway.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 35]Martian Clouds I dunno...methinks I could use a magnifying glass. :-\ What clouds? Good thing they gave us that close-up on the left -- the linear ripples are the transparent water-ice clouds. Weird.

Hey -- mentions "yardangs" again. I just know that's going to be a popular slang term on Mars. Yardang it!

--Cindy

REB · 2004-06-29 08:25:26

Sand Worms! Don't forget to pack a few thumpers for a trip to Mars.

The Spice must flow.

Shaun Barrett · 2004-06-29 18:22:45

Cindy:-

Yardang it!

Ha-ha!! :laugh:
Why do I keep imagining Yosemite Sam in a space suit?!

Palomar · 2004-06-29 21:21:40

*Lol! Shaun, I didn't think of good ol' Yosemite Sam, but yep -- I can see it (how could he get all those whiskers inside a helmet though...I mean without scrunching them up?) ::teehee::

(:edit: thought of a better one -- )

"Yardang it! Now where'd that there varmint spaceship go? There it is! Ya, mule! Ya, ya! Giddyap there ya flea-bitten galoot crazy spaceship! Ya!"

Yep -- :laugh:

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-06-30 07:37:00

Somebody contact "Looney Tunes".
I think we're onto a new story line here! :laugh:

Palomar · 2004-07-01 06:36:04

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13257]Dust devil streaks in northern polar region

*Going over dunes (what funky dunes!), etc. 76.6°N, 62.7°W.

Interesting info in caption beneath pic.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-07 15:14:50

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 3321]Guess what these are?

Dust devil days
they'll pass you by

Dust devil days
in the wink of a young girl's eye...

[Sorry, the title reminded me of a Bruce Springsteen song. ]

This is WILD! Look in the upper left-hand corner -- the abundance of tracks just inside the lip of that crater. :-\ Sorry to sound gross, but it looks like nostril hairs! I wonder if the devils are generally "falling" over the lip of the crater or going up it?

Suppose we won't know for a while yet.

Yardang it.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-10 13:15:27

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13345]More tracks -- dozens of them

*It's amazing, the proliferation. I wonder how long (on average) devil tracks remain visible before being obscurred by winds and blowing sand. I suppose it depends on location, whether in a crater or out on the "high desert," etc.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-07-11 08:06:15

These pictures are of the southern hemisphere and they comment about the tracks in the second picture being mainly on the northerly (i.e. northeast) side of topographical features. I noticed the same thing in the first picture you linked for us, Cindy, in the Argyre Basin. The tracks are almost all on the north side of natural rises in the ground - especially the raised rim of that crater in the upper left of the image.
If you look carefully, you can see the tracks faintly on the southern sides, too, in places. I'm wondering whether the tracks on the colder southern slopes may actually be as common as on the north-facing slopes but covered by thick frost(?).
I'm probably wrong; it's so hard to tell what's going on in these black and white images.

Palomar · 2004-07-22 05:32:39

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … ml]Barchan dunes

*North polar region. Photo released this week. Rather nifty.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-08-23 15:23:39

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13749]Got both devils and dunes in this wild new pic

*Released today. Says the devil tracks indicate "movement from a variety of directions," but the dunes only "indicate winds from the east."

A very "busy" and complex photo, IMO.

Some day these then-old noncolor pics of Mars will be used for Rorschach inkblot tests on Marsians...count on it. ;P

(I already see a horse and a stingray...) :laugh:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-10-06 05:43:26

Graceful]http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_041006.html]"Graceful dunes"

*...in Herschel Basin.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-01-29 06:53:02

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=15280]A plethora of large dust devils

*Yay! Finally, a new pic of dust devils. December 04. Northern Amazonis Planitia region, "famous for" lots of large devils. Looks like there's easily a dozen in the photo.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2005-01-29 07:55:55

Interesting.
I could have looked at those little illuminated 'prominences' for hours and never identified them as dust-devils!

Palomar · 2005-01-29 08:13:17

Interesting.
I could have looked at those little illuminated 'prominences' for hours and never identified them as dust-devils!

*Yeah, I know what you mean. :-\ They do appear a tad bit tiny in the photo. But am happy, regardless, to have the image. I find it ironic that dust devils are an oft-spoken-of and well-known phenomenon on Mars, yet photos of them seem strangely infrequent.

I can imagine them happily burring along on the planet day and night...tall and slender or chubby and cute.

They're especially charming to me.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Whoops...just remembered, based on what I've read, that dust devils form "only" (?) in the late afternoon. So apparently there can't be any whirling around at night.

Palomar · 2005-02-07 20:25:54

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=15352]Dust devil in far western Syria Planum

*Well...at least this one is more easily seen than the others in the Jan 29 post!

We receive so few images of these delightful critters, I'm always happy to have yet another.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-02-14 06:00:09

This article talks about dust devil static charge build up and effects. I think I posted a simular article that referenced this vary topic as to while life might not exist on mars.

Safe On Mars: Part II

The two Viking landers were enveloped in a global dust storm soon after landing, and dust devils have been observed many times on Mars by Viking orbiters and landers, the Mars Pathfinder, and the Mars Global Surveyor.
Windblown dust appears to be a common condition on Mars and would cause electrostatic charging of astronauts' space suits during operations on the surface of Mars, as well as of their equipment and habitat.
Despite this phenomenon, there has been no report of electrostatic damage to delicate electronics on any of the surface systems. Furthermore, neither the Viking missions nor the Mars Pathfinder mission experienced any problems due to electrostatic charging.

SpaceNut · 2005-04-28 06:31:17

Yup got here first but it is still a great photo.
Dust Devils Spotted on Mars

large dust devil image

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#26 2004-05-26 15:10:32

Re: Devils & Dunes

#27 2004-06-01 07:42:12

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#28 2004-06-24 06:52:53

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#29 2004-06-24 07:56:54

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#30 2004-06-29 08:12:49

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#31 2004-06-29 08:25:26

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#32 2004-06-29 18:22:45

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#33 2004-06-29 21:21:40

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#34 2004-06-30 07:37:00

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#35 2004-07-01 06:36:04

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#36 2004-07-07 15:14:50

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#37 2004-07-10 13:15:27

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#38 2004-07-11 08:06:15

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#39 2004-07-22 05:32:39

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#40 2004-08-23 15:23:39

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#41 2004-10-06 05:43:26

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#42 2005-01-29 06:53:02

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#43 2005-01-29 07:55:55

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#44 2005-01-29 08:13:17

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#45 2005-02-07 20:25:54

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#46 2005-02-14 06:00:09

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#47 2005-04-28 06:31:17

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