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First in-situ analysis of dust devil tracks on Earth and their comparison with tracks on Mars
Article first published online: 22 JUL 2010
DOI: 10.1029/2010GL044016
Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.
Additional Information
How to Cite
, , , , and (2010), First in-situ analysis of dust devil tracks on Earth and their comparison with tracks on Mars, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L14203, doi:10.1029/2010GL044016.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 22 JUL 2010
- Article first published online: 22 JUL 2010
- Manuscript Accepted: 17 JUN 2010
- Manuscript Revised: 14 JUN 2010
- Manuscript Received: 17 MAY 2010
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- Mars;
- Earth;
- dust devil;
- dust devil tracks;
- dust
In this study we report about the first in-situ analysis of terrestrial dust devil tracks (DDTs) observed in the Turpan depression desert in northwestern China. Passages of active dust devils remove a thin layer of fine grained material (< ∼63 μm), cleaning the upper surface of coarse sands (0.5–1 mm). This erosional process changes the photometric properties of the upper surface causing the albedo differences within the track to the surroundings. Measurements imply that a removal of an equivalent layer thickness of ∼2 μm is sufficient to form the dark dust devil tracks. Our terrestrial results are in agreement with the mechanism proposed by Greeley et al. (2005) for the formation of DDTs on Mars.