Nov 1985
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985jgrs...90...84t&link_type=abstract
In Lunar and Planetary Inst. 16th Lunar and Planetary Sci. Conf. p 84-85 (SEE N85-26548 15-91)
Physics
Dust Storms, Mars Atmosphere, Mars Surface, Vortices, Northern Hemisphere, Summer, Viking Mars Program, Wind Velocity
Scientific paper
Large columns of dust have been discovered rising above plains on Mars. The storms are probably analogous to terrestrial dust devils, but their size indicates that they are more similar to tornadoes in intensity. They occur at locations where the soil has been strongly warmed by the Sun, and there the surface is smooth and fine grained. These are the same conditions that favor dust devils on Earth. Warm gas from the lowest atmospheric layer converges and rises in a thin column, with intense swirl developing at the edge of the column. In one area a mosaic of Viking images shows 97 vortices in a three day period. This represents a density of vortices of about one in each 900 square kilometers. Thus, these dust devils may be important in moving dust or starting over dust storms.
Gierasch Peter
Thomas Pierre G.
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