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Global Catalog of Martian Dust Devils Reveals Faster Near-Surface Winds on Mars

Tiny timing offsets in ESA orbiter images enabled a deep-learning survey that now maps dust-devil motion to inform models, mission planning.

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured three dust devils tracking across the Martian surface on November 8, 2021.
A Martian dust devil photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Image
Images of dust devils, whirlwinds of dust that are blown across Mars’ surface. © CC BY SA 3.0 IGO, ESA/TGO/CaSSIS for CaSSIS

Overview

  • Researchers analyzed two decades of Mars Express and ExoMars TGO imagery to catalog 1,039 dust devils, with motion and direction measured for 373 events.
  • Measured near-surface winds peaked at about 158 km/h (98 mph), exceeding many prior surface-based estimates reported for Mars.
  • Detections span the planet with clustering in source regions such as Amazonis Planitia, with activity most common in local spring and summer and peaking around late morning to early afternoon.
  • The team exploited slight inter-channel timing offsets in CaSSIS and HRSC images and trained a neural network to identify and track the whirlwinds.
  • Findings published in Science Advances provide an open dataset to refine climate models and support landing-site assessments, solar-panel dust risk estimates, and planning for missions such as ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover.