dust devil

February 1, 2021

Both wind-carved *and* ancient

1 February, 2021 Are we tired of the pandemic yet? My kids haven’t gone to an actual school since last March. Fortunately we’re all healthy. I’m able to do most of my work, but it’s not easy. So let’s go […]
August 28, 2019

How many dust devils can you find?

Aug. 28, 2019 So I was wasting time looking for dune fields on Mars and I came across a great CTX image that’s just riddled with dust devil tracks. Most of the time that’s all you see, but sometimes you […]
August 22, 2019

<3 on Mars

Aug. 22, 2019 Yeah, yeah, I should be working. But I had to do this. I found a heart❤️ on Mars made by dust devils:   The wind blows dust devils around, so sometimes they meander this way and that. […]
July 11, 2019

Dust Devil Fieldwork #5: Summary

July 11, 2019 This is Part 5 of a series on my dust devil fieldwork in 2019 (see Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4). We came back home a couple of weeks ago. I’d say […]
June 16, 2019

Dust Devil Fieldwork #4: Team Paparazzi

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, […]
April 23, 2019

Dust Devil Fieldwork #1: Equipment

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 […]
February 5, 2018

Mars’ “Type A” wind

The busy, busy wind has moved a lot of things to make this 0.6×0.85 km (0.37×0.53 mi) landscape. First it built a big dark dune, covering it and the surrounding surface with ripples. Then it dumped a bunch of bright […]
June 5, 2017

Dunes fighting for survival

A Piece of Mars: Having a bad day? You’re in good company with these dunes in this 0.96×0.48 km (0.6×0.3 mi) scene. The gray barchanoid dunes are covered in ripples, as the wind valiantly tries to push the sand to […]
February 21, 2017

Who wins in the fight of wind vs. ice?

A Piece of Mars: This is the crest of one of the largest dunes on Mars (0.5×0.5 km or 0.31×0.31 mi). The wind mostly blows from the right, slowly pushing sand up the windward slope. But frost accumulates on (and […]