Who's [ http://www.gargaro.…] been marking up Mars? This portion of a recent high-resolution picture [ http://www.msss.com…index.html ] from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing a relatively flat rippled region about 3 kilometers wide on the martian surface. Newly formed [ http://www.msss.com…] trails like these presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but have now been identified as likely the work of miniature wind vortices [ http://www2.sunysuf…] known to occur on the red planet [ http://marsweb.jpl.…] - martian dust devils [ http://www.msss.com…]. Another example of wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] processes on [ http://mars.jpl.nas…] an active Mars, dust devils [ http://www.lpl.ariz…] had been detected passing near the Viking and Mars Pathfinder [ http://mars.jpl.nas…] landers. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Typically lasting only a few minutes, they becoming visible as they pick up loose dust. On Mars [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…], dust devils [ http://www.msss.com…index.html ] can be up to 8 kilometers high [ http://www.msss.com…moc2_171d_msss.jpg ] and leave dark trails as they disturb the bright, reflective surface dust.
Explanation
Who's [ http://www.gargaro.…] been marking up Mars? This portion of a recent high-resolution picture [ http://www.msss.com…index.html ] from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing a relatively flat rippled region about 3 kilometers wide on the martian surface. Newly formed [ http://www.msss.com…] trails like these presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but have now been identified as likely the work of miniature wind vortices [ http://www2.sunysuf…] known to occur on the red planet [ http://marsweb.jpl.…] - martian dust devils [ http://www.msss.com…]. Another example of wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] processes on [ http://mars.jpl.nas…] an active Mars, dust devils [ http://www.lpl.ariz…] had been detected passing near the Viking and Mars Pathfinder [ http://mars.jpl.nas…] landers. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Typically lasting only a few minutes, they becoming visible as they pick up loose dust. On Mars [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…], dust devils [ http://www.msss.com…index.html ] can be up to 8 kilometers high [ http://www.msss.com…moc2_171d_msss.jpg ] and leave dark trails as they disturb the bright, reflective surface dust.
