                          THEMIS: Image Detail

                                                                        
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         Dust Devil                                                     
           Tracks                                                       
        (Released 8                                                     
         May 2002)                                                      
                                                                        
            [15]                                                        
                                                                        
       Image Context:                                                   
                                                                        
       Context image                                                    
       credit:                                                          
       NASA/Mars                                                        
       Orbiter Laser                                                    
       Altimeter                                                        
       (MOLA) Team                                                      
                                                                        
        The Science                                  The Story          
                                                                        
       This image,                            Vrrrrooooooooom. Think    
       centered near                          of a tornado, the         
       50.0 S and                             cartoon Tasmanian         
       17.7 W                                 devil, or any number of   
       displays dust                          vacuum commercials that   
       devil tracks                           powerfully suck up        
       on the                                 swirls of dust and        
       surface. Most                          dirt. That's pretty       
       of the                                 much what it's like on    
       lighter                                the surface of Mars a     
       portions of                            lot of the time.          
       the image                              Whirlpools of wind        
       likely have a                          called "dust devils"      
       thin veneer                            whip up dust that has     
       of dust                                settled all over the      
       settled on                             surface.                  
       the surface.                                                     
       As a dust                              In this image, the dust   
       devil passes                           is a bright blanket of    
       over the                               material. As the dust     
       surface, it                            devils pass over the      
       acts as a                              surface, they pick up     
       vacuum and                             this light dust and       
       picks up the                           take it with them,        
       dust, leaving                          exposing the darker       
       the darker                             surface below. It may     
       substrate                              look like a "clean up"    
       exposed. In                            effort on the ground,     
       this image                             but it's the atmosphere   
       there is a                             that suffers. Dust        
       general trend                          devils may vacuum the     
       of many of                             surface, but they sure    
       the tracks                             churn up a dusty          
       running from                           atmosphere that is the    
       east to west                           main driving force in     
       or west to                             current climate change    
       east,                                  on the red planet.        
       indicating                             That's why these          
       the general                            devilish winds on this    
       wind                                   hostile planet are so     
       direction.                             important to              
       There is                               understand.               
       often no                                                         
       general trend                          Take a look at the        
       present in                             faint tracings of dust    
       dust devil                             devil tracks. Can you     
       tracks seen                            tell which way the wind   
       in other                               usually blows in this     
       images. The                            area? While there's       
       track                                  some variation, the       
       patterns are                           wind typically seems to   
       quite                                  move east to west . . .   
       ephemeral and                          or is it west to east?!   
       can                                    Regardless, this          
       completely                             pattern is pretty         
       change or                              regular . . . and         
       even                                   that's actually ODD.      
       disappear                              Dust devil tracks in      
       over the                               other Martian areas are   
       course of a                            much more crazy and       
       few months.                            erratic in their path,    
       Dust devils                            and can completely        
       are one of                             change or disappear       
       the                                    over the course of a      
       mechanisms                             few months.               
       that Mars                                                        
       uses to                                [Questions? Email         
       constantly                             marsoutreach@jpl.nasa.go  
       pump dust                              v [16] ]                  
       into the                                                         
       ubiquitously                           [Source: NASA/JPL Mars    
       dusty                                  Outreach]                 
       atmosphere.                                                      
       This                                                             
       atmospheric                                                      
       dust is one                                                      
       of the main                                                      
       driving                                                          
       forces of the                                                    
       present                                                          
       Martian                                                          
       climate.                                                         
                                                                        
       [Source: ASU                                                     
       THEMIS                                                           
       Science Team]                                                    
                                                                        
       Note: this                                                       
       THEMIS visual                                                    
       image has not                                                    
       been                                                             
       radiometricall                                                   
       y nor                                                            
       geometrically                                                    
       calibrated                                                       
       for this                                                         
       preliminary                                                      
       release. An                                                      
       empirical                                                        
       correction                                                       
       has been                                                         
       performed to                                                     
       remove                                                           
       instrumental                                                     
       effects. A                                                       
       linear shift                                                     
       has been                                                         
       applied in                                                       
       the                                                              
       cross-track                                                      
       and                                                              
       down-track                                                       
       direction to                                                     
       approximate                                                      
       spacecraft                                                       
       and planetary                                                    
       motion. Fully                                                    
       calibrated                                                       
       and                                                              
       geometrically                                                    
       projected                                                        
       images will                                                      
       be released                                                      
       through the                                                      
       Planetary                                                        
       Data System                                                      
       in accordance                                                    
       with Project                                                     
       policies at a                                                    
       later time.                                                      
                                                                        
       NASA's Jet                                                       
       Propulsion                                                       
       Laboratory                                                       
       manages the                                                      
       2001 Mars                                                        
       Odyssey                                                          
       mission for                                                      
       NASA's Office                                                    
       of Space                                                         
       Science,                                                         
       Washington,                                                      
       D.C. The                                                         
       Thermal                                                          
       Emission                                                         
       Imaging                                                          
       System                                                           
       (THEMIS) was                                                     
       developed by                                                     
       Arizona State                                                    
       University,                                                      
       Tempe, in                                                        
       collaboration                                                    
       with Raytheon                                                    
       Santa Barbara                                                    
       Remote                                                           
       Sensing. The                                                     
       THEMIS                                                           
       investigation                                                    
       is led by Dr.                                                    
       Philip                                                           
       Christensen                                                      
       at Arizona                                                       
       State                                                            
       University.                                                      
       Lockheed                                                         
       Martin                                                           
       Astronautics,                                                    
       Denver, is                                                       
       the prime                                                        
       contractor                                                       
       for the                                                          
       Odyssey                                                          
       project, and                                                     
       developed and                                                    
       built the                                                        
       orbiter.                                                         
       Mission                                                          
       operations                                                       
       are conducted                                                    
       jointly from                                                     
       Lockheed                                                         
       Martin and                                                       
       from JPL, a                                                      
       division of                                                      
       the                                                              
       California                                                       
       Institute of                                                     
       Technology in                                                    
       Pasadena.                                                        
                                                                        
       Image Credit:                                                    
       NASA/JPL/Arizo                                                   
       na State                                                         
       University                                                       
                                                                        
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        Image (GIF)                                                     
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        Image (JPG)                                                     
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        Image (PNG)                                                     
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        Image (TIF)                                                     
          [20]  ]                                                       
                                                                        
            Parameter   Value     Parameter   Value                     
                                                                        
             Latitude   -50.1     Instrumen   VIS                       
                                          t                             
                                                                        
            Longitude   17.7W     Resolutio   19                        
                        (342.3E       n (m)                             
                        )                                               
                                                                        
           Image Size   3079x11       Image   58.5x22                   
             (pixels)   57        Size (km)                             
                                                                        
                                                                  [21]  
                                                                        
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  [2] http://themis.asu.edu/goals.html
  [3] http://themis.asu.edu/mission.html
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  [5] http://themis.asu.edu/themis_team.html
  [6] http://tes.asu.edu/neweducation.html
  [7] http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/
  [8] http://tes.asu.edu/
  [9] http://tes.asu.edu/
  [10] http://tes.asu.edu/MINITES/
  [11] http://tes.asu.edu/MINITES/
  [12] http://www.asu.edu/
  [13] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [14] latest.html
  [15] fullimages/20020508a.jpg
  [16] mailto:marsoutreach@jpl.nasa.gov
  [17] /fullimages/20020508a.gif
  [18] /fullimages/20020508a.jpg
  [19] /fullimages/20020508a.png
  [20] /fullimages/20020508a.tif
  [21] http://validator.w3.org/check/referer
