Dust Devil Tracks
Many areas on Mars experience the passage of giant dust devils. A thin coating of fine bright dust covers most of the Martian surface. When a dust devil goes by it blows away the coating and exposes the underlying dark surface creating tracks. Dust devils have been seen from the ground and from orbit. They have even blown the dust off of the solar panels of the two Rovers on Mars, thereby greatly extending their lives. The twin Rovers were designed to last for 3 months, instead they have lasted more than six years and are still going after over 8 years. The pattern of the tracks have been shown to change every few months. TA study that combined data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) found that some large dust devils on Mars have a diameter of 700 meters and last at least 26 minutes. The image below of Russel Crater shows changes in dust devil tracks over a period of only three months, as documented by HiRISE. Other Dust Devil Tracks are visible in the picture of Frento Vallis.
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Russell Crater Dust Devil Changes, as seen by HiRISE. Click on image to see changes in dust devil tracks in just 3 months.
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Frento Vallis, as seen by HiRISE. Click on image to see better view of Dust Devil Tracks.
Read more about this topic: Noachis Quadrangle
Famous quotes containing the words dust, devil and/or tracks:
“Thus, far from the beaten highways and the dust and din of travel, we beheld the country privately, yet freely, and at our leisure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are oft to blame in this,
‘Tis too much proved, that with devotion’s visage
And pious action we do sugar o’er
The devil himself.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Leonid Ivanovich Shigaev is dead.... The suspension dots, customary in Russian obituaries, must represent the footprints of words that have departed on tiptoe, in reverent single file, leaving their tracks on the marble....”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)