Watch this video of a dust devil on Mars captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
While exploring the Jezero crater on Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Perseverance rover caught a surprise weather event—a dust devil. The huge swirling vortex of dust was captured moving east to west at a speed of about 19 kilometres per hour along the “Thorofare Ridge” on August 30.
In the video released by NASA yesterday, you can see the lower portion of the Martian dust devil moving along the western rim of the Jezero Crater. The video is composed of 21 frames taken four seconds apart by the rover’s Navcams and has been sped up about 20 times.
Based on data captured by the rover, Perseverance mission scientists estimate that this particular dust devil was about 4 kilometres away at the location nicknamed Thorofare Ridge. Its width is calculated to be at around 60 metres. In the video above, you can only see the bottom 118 metres of the dust devil, but based on the shadow it throws, scientists estimate that it is about 2 kilometres high.
Dust devils are a common occurrence on Earth as well. They form when rising warm air mixes with descending columns of cooler air. But the Martian version can grow to be much larger than what we find on Earth. They are also more prominent during the spring and summer months on the planet. Perseverance is currently located on Mars’s northern hemisphere, where it is currently summer.
Dust devils like this one on Mars are generally much weaker and smaller than tornadoes on Earth, but they act as an important mechanism that moves and redistributes dust around Mars. Scientists study them to better understand the red planet’s atmospheric and weather patterns.
