Untitled Document
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science
Systems
This image reminds me of
scrawlings my sometimes-devilish 2-year-old makes. He loves to test the limits
of crayon and paper, often breaking the former and tearing the latter in a whirlwind
of activity.
An otherworldly sort of
devilish whirlwind is responsible for these erratic marks, carved into the surface
of Mars during early summer in the southern hemisphere.
Mars has a lot of weather
that can be likened to Earth. The dust devils that left these marks, for example,
are similar to terrestrial tornadoes. But there's a big difference. A tornado
typically rises no more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) into the atmosphere, under
a taller parent storm. A Martian dust devel can soar up to 5 miles (8 kilometers)
high.
There are larger, hurricane-like
wind patterns on the red planet, too. Sometimes, so much dust is kicked up that
the entire
planet is enshrouded.
The photo, released earlier
this month, was taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The picture covers an
area about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) wide near 40.2°S, 237.7°W. Sunlight illuminates
the scene from the upper left. [Where
is the Worst Weather in the Solar System?]
-- Robert
Roy Britt
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