Dust Devil Tracks & Slope Streaks on Martian Sand Dunes | NASA MRO

Dust Devil Tracks & Slope Streaks on Martian Sand Dunes | NASA MRO

The dark lines swirling over the surface of the dunes are the tracks of dust devils on Mars. 

Dr. Ken Edgett, a staff scientist at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California, describes a dust devil as follows: "A dust devil is something that happens both on Earth and on Mars and looks somewhat like a mini-tornado. As with tornadoes, dust devils are spinning columns of air. Such a column is called a vortex—you might see the same effect when you let water run down a bathtub drain . . . Unlike tornadoes, dust devils aren't usually associated with storms." 

These dust devil tracks were captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument. 

Note: Enhanced color images are 1 km across.

Malin Space Science Systems built the Mars Color Imager (MARCI), Context Camera (CTX) systems for MRO.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. 

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Narration: Tre Gibbs

Duration: 1 minute, 10 seconds

Release Date: May 15, 2013

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