A Dust Devil on Mars
Explanation:
It was late in the northern martian spring
when the
HiRISE camera onboard the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spied
this local denizen.
Tracking across the flat, dust-covered
Amazonis Planitia in 2012,
the core of
this whirling dust devil is about 140 meters in diameter.
Lofting dust into the thin
martian
atmosphere, its plume
reaches about 20 kilometers above the surface.
Common to
this region of
Mars, dust
devils occur as the surface is heated by the Sun,
generating warm, rising air currents that begin to rotate.
Tangential
wind speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour are reported
for
dust devils in other
HiRISE images.
Follow APOD on:
Facebook,
Google Plus,
or
Twitter
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
