Convective Vortices and Dust Devils Detected and Characterized by Mars 2020

Abstract

Daytime convective vortices are common on Mars and Earth (Balme & Greeley, 2006). They constitute one of the various phenomena that develop in the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) of both planets, but are much more common and can be an order of magnitude larger on Mars due to the more extended PBL depth (Balme & Greeley, 2006). Dusty convective vortices, or dust devils (DDs), are vortices that have raised dust from the

Dust Devil Frequency of Occurrence and Radiative Effects at Jezero Crater, Mars, as Measured by MEDA Radiation and Dust Sensor (RDS)

“…These results are in agreement with the DD frequency of between 2.0 and 3.0 DD per km 2 and sol derived in Hueso et al. (2022) from an independent estimation.…”

“…The maximum diameter for these cases is found for sol 213 with d DD = 132 ± 63.4 m, while the minimum diameter was reported on sol 48 with d DD = 5.6 ± 5.5 m. These numbers are also in agreement with those given in Hueso et al. (2022) which are based on Monte‐Carlo modeling pressure and wind data of vortices including the large event on sol 213.…”

“…For this statistic, a DD with multiple detections (e.g., a DD crossing 3 different Lat sensors) is counted as one event. Although the diurnal variation of detections is similar to that found for vortices (Hueso et al., 2022), some of them might have not been caused by DDs; for example, a dust cloud that is crossing the Top sensors FOV. For this reason, the detections shown in Figures 10a and 10b were classified into two groups.…”

“…(2022), and Hueso et al. (2022) from observations made by MEDA PS. However, while Figure 15 shows a notable decrease in ρ DD after 14:00 LTST, the vortex encounters reported in Jackson (2022) do not indicate a significant decrease after that time.…”

“…For this reason, the detections shown in Figures 10a and 10b were classified into two groups. The first group, called DL, consists of the events that included the following: (a) one or more RDS detections and a local pressure drop caused by a vortex (Hueso et al., 2022) and (b) two or more RDS detections including at least one Lat sensors and for which the PS did not show a drop. The events with simultaneous Lat detections, which are also included in this group, are likely DL produced by wind gusts.…”