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.
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.
Noachis quadrangle