Wind streaks on Mars: Meteorological control of occurence and mode of formation

Details Wind streaks on Mars: Meteorological control of occurence and mode of formation Wind streaks on Mars: Meteorological control of occurence and mode of formation

Jan 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981icar...45..154v&link_type=abstract

Icarus, Volume 45, Issue 1, p. 154-166.

Mathematics

Logic

45

Scientific paper

Why do some craters on Mars produce depositional wind streaks, while others produce erosional ones? There is no evidence to suggest that crater morphology or topography plays the determining role. Some craters can form either type of streak at different times of the Martian year, suggesting that the controlling factor is meteorological. We propose that atmospheric stability is the determining factor: a stable atmosphere should lead to blocking of the wind flow by crater rims producing wind shadows over distances comparable to those of observed bright streaks. Such conditions should prevail in a belt about the equator at the time of major dust storms. As the atmosphere becomes more transparent following the end of the dust storms, the rate of surface heating increases and the stability of the atmosphere is reduced. Under such conditions, blocking is not expected. Flow over obstacles results in increased surface stress downwind, conditions which encourage the formation of erosional dark streaks. These ideas are shown to be consistent with the seasons at which erosional and depositional streaks are formed, as well as with their distribution on the planet. Specifically, the scheme explains why craters which have both erosional and depositional streaks occur only within a very restricted latitude belt.

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