HiRISE | Dust Devil Etch-A-Sketch (ESP_013751

The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20120201092649/http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013751_1115

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Dust Devil Etch-A-Sketch
ESP_013751_1115 Science Theme: Landscape Evolution

800
1024
1152
1280
1440
1600
1920
2048
2560

PDF, 11 x 17 in

This “etch-a-sketch” appearance indicates the presence of dust devil activity in the Thyles Rupes region of Mars.

The dark streaks are a result of a surface-atmosphere interaction that creates thermally-driven vortices. These Martian vortices are giant dust devils that “vacuum” the bright surface dust revealing the darker subsurface rock.

This image was taken in the late southern summer and shows that the dust devil direction of movement changes with the winds as the season progresses from spring to fall. Dust devils are sensitive to changes in low-speed ambient winds and will follow the dominant daytime wind direction.

The direction of the vortex is visible by the scallop pattern that is left behind as a dust devil will erase the front part of the circular track as it follows the wind.

Written by: Circe Verba (19 August 2009)

Image Products: All image links are drag & drop for HiView, or click to download

JPEG
Grayscale: map projected non-map
IRB color: map projected non-map
RGB color: non-map projected

JP2 DOWNLOAD
Grayscale: map-projected (271.8 MB)
IRB color: map-projected (117.5 MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Grayscale: map-projected (166.1 MB),
non-map (156.8 MB)

IRB color: map projected (88.5 MB)
non-map (144.4 MB)

RGB color: non map-projected (134.9 MB)

Additional Image Information
Grayscale label Color label
Merged IRB label Merged RGB label
EDR products

About color products (PDF)
HiView main page
HiRISE Online Image Viewer

Observation Toolbox

Acquisition date:	02 July 2009	Local Mars time:	2:50 PM
Latitude (centered):	-68.5 degrees	Longitude (East):	145.0 degrees
Range to target site:	251.0 km (156.9 miles)	Original image scale range:	50.2 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~151 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	50 cm/pixel	Map projection:	POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC
Emission angle:	6.8 degrees	Phase angle:	57.9 degrees
Solar incidence angle:	53 degrees, with the Sun about 37 degrees above the horizon	Solar longitude:	296.3 degrees, Northern Winter
For non-map projected products:
North azimuth:	97 degrees	Sub-solar azimuth:	45.4 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:	55.02 degrees	Sub solar azimuth:	3.319 degrees

Usage Policy
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Postscript
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.

Nov	FEB	Sep
	01
2009	2012	2013