Dust Devil Etch-A-Sketch
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Dust Devil Etch-A-Sketch
ESP_013751_1115  Science Theme: Landscape Evolution
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)
 
Acquisition date
02 July 2009

Local Mars time
14:50

Latitude (centered)
-68.531°

Longitude (East)
145.020°

Spacecraft altitude
249.3 km (154.9 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
Polarstereographic

Emission angle
6.9°

Phase angle
57.9°

Solar incidence angle
53°, with the Sun about 37° above the horizon

Solar longitude
296.3°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  45.7°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (272MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (118MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (166MB)
non-map           (157MB)

IRB color
map projected  (89MB)
non-map           (146MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (292MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (278MB)

RGB color
non map           (139MB)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

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:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
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. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.