NASA’s Rover Persertance on Mars captured them in video. There are several dust minorbelinos characteristic of the red planet turning on the edge of the Jezero crater. The dust devils on Mars are of rare beauty.
In a brief video a swirl of Martian dust appears consuming a smaller one. These air and dust columns, sometimes gigantic and spiral, are common on Mars. The rover took these images from approximately 1 kilometer away. The largest dust swirl measured approximately 65 meters wide, while the smallest swirl of dust, which was dragged, measured approximately 5 meters.
Dangerous swirls
“Convective vortices, also known as dust swirls, can be quite dangerous.” He affirmed it in a statement Mark Lemmon, a scientist at the Institute of Space Sciences of Boulder, Colorado. «These minitorbellinos travel the surface of Mars, raising dust in their path and reducing visibility in their immediate area. If two swirls of dust are found, they can be destroyed mutually or merger. The strongest consumes the weakest ».
Dust swirls are formed by columns of hot air that ascend and turn. The air near the planet surface is heated when it comes into contact with the ground, warmer. Then he rises through the dense and cold air that covers it. As another air moves along the surface to replace the upward hot air, it begins to rotate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhkizgpzm4
Martian dust
“Dust swirls play an important role in Martian climatic patterns,” they say. «The study of dust swirls is important because these phenomena indicate atmospheric conditions. For example, the predominant direction and speed of the wind. They are responsible for approximately half of the dust in the Martian atmosphere ».
Capture an image or video of a swirl of dust with a spacecraft requires some luck. It cannot be predicted to predict when they will appear, so Perseverance monitors them routinely in all directions. Diablos of dust on Mars only last about 10 minutes.
