June 16, 2019
June 16, 2019 This is Part 4 of a series on my dust devil fieldwork in 2019 (see Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3). The last post was a short one. That’s partly because I’m short on time, […]
June 12, 2019
June 12, 2019 This is Part 3 of a series on my dust devil fieldwork in 2019 (see Part 1 | Part 2). We’re here, we’re really here. I have a team and wonderful instruments and everybody is awesome and […]
May 10, 2019
May 10, 2019 (This is Part 2 of a series on my summer 2019 dust devil fieldwork. See previous post Part 1.) Today my colleague Steve Metzger and I drove out to a playa in Nevada to test some of […]
April 26, 2019
I saw an article today linked by the International Society for Aeolian Research‘s Facebook page, on the dangers of dust being lofted in Earth’s youngest desert, the Aralkum Desert in Kazakhstan. It’s where the Aral Sea used to be, decades […]
April 23, 2019
April 22, 2019 Hey. So last fall I found out that some colleagues and I got our dust devil proposal funded (I’m the PI, which means I’m the one in charge.) My initial reaction included elation. Relief. Joy. 🤗🎉🎈🥂🎊 We’d […]
March 4, 2019
On Earth, really old windblown dunes don’t usually survive long enough to become part of the geologic rock record. Dunes are made of unconsolidated sand, which is easily eroded by just about anything, so it takes special circumstances to keep […]
February 11, 2019
When I look for something to blog about, I usually go to the HiRISE catalog to see if there are any new pictures that I find interesting. Today this lovely dune field caught my eye: HiRISE images are about 6 […]
December 27, 2018
InSight landed in Elysium Planitia on 26 November, 2018, about a month ago as of this writing. Pictures show that it’s a flat place, with small scattered rocks lying around. Unlike in Gale crater, where Curiosity is slowly working its […]
October 18, 2018
Right now, the Fourth Landing Site Workshop for the Mars 2020 rover mission is happening. It’s the last one, and in a few hours the scientists attending the workshop will vote on which of four sites they think the rover […]