Transcript Where Are Dust Devils Commonly Located? Our

Period 2
By:
Tiffany Agustin, Precious Joy Calaro-Musngi,
Jazmina Lafitaga, Kamalani Kaeha,
Brinell Kaleikini, and Chelsie Sablan
Where Are Dust Devils Commonly Located?
Our Research Question Is Important Because…
If we do go to mars we know not to allow people and our space
rover near that area
Our Science Question Is Interesting Because…
We get to study about dust devils and where its located.
Dust Devils:
• Forms from strong surface heating, usually at the interface between
different surface types; Such as asphalt and dirt, or irrigated fields and
dirt roads.
• Occur under clear skies and light winds when the ground can warm the
air to temperatures well above the temperatures just above the ground.
• Generally smaller, and less tense than a tornado. But they can still be
destructive as they lift dust and other debris into the air.
• Usually range from 10-300 feet in diameter and an average height of
approximately 500-1000 feet.
• Usually last for a couple of minutes. Under optimal conditions, however
they sometimes last for tens of minutes.
• Wind speeds in larger dust devils can reach 60 miles per hour or greater.

Dust Devils are formed by strong
surface heating so the ground could
be hotter then the air above it. Hot
air rises and goes through the cool
air above it and they start to
circulate. The horizontal gusts of
wind blow, therefore creating
towering columns. Hot air rising in
the center makes the devil swirl
faster.
http://weathersavvy.com/mars_dustdevils.jpg
Dust Devils are formed by:
 Strong surface heating in terrace between
different surfaces
 Clear skies and light winds
 Up rush of hot air starts
•http://www.universetoday.com
/14890/dust-devils-on-mars/
Chelsie, Kamalani, Precious, Tiffany:
If there are many dust devils then by looking at pictures of
dust devils most dust devils will be found in Xenthe Terra because it
has surface heating, it has a better chance of mixing surfaces, and it
could create an up-rush.
Jazmina, Brinell:
If there are many dust devils then by looking at pictures of
dust devils most dust devils will be found in Alba Patera because it has
different temperatures, surfaces, and elevation then Xenthe Terra.
Spacecraft
NASA’s Mars Odyssey
Camera
THEMIS Camera
Image Type
Visible Images- to see details
within the crater MOLA- to see
context or image and depth
Geologic Features Studied
Dust devils match our research
question because we are trying to
figure out where dust devils are
commonly located.
Geographic regions we focused on
The part of the map we will
explore to study dust devils will be
Xanthe Terra and Alba Patera.
Sample Size
__ THEMIS Images used to gather
data
Categories of Data to be collected
and “Why”
Elevation Range Image ID # Latitude/ Longitude –
Misc. Data – To record any other
interesting information not
warranted by our necessary data
categories but certainly important
to our study
Measurements
Picture Diameter- Rough
estimation relative to image
parameters based on THEMIS
Camera’s Visible Image range of
18km x 30km
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 Website list:
http://themis.asu.edu
 Data collection steps on site:
Go to the http://themis.asu.edu website
Click on the “Wind/Dust” topic
Click on “Dust Devils Days (Released
6 July 2004)
Locations of Dust Devil Data
90
60
Latitude
30
0
Latitude
-30
-60
-90
0
90
180
270
360
Longitude
This graph shows the locations of where our pictures were taken,
charted by latitude and longitude.
Elevation
8
7
6
Mode
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 to -1
0 to 2
0 to -2
0 to 4
0 to -4
0 to 8
1 to 3
2 to 3
2 to 4
2 to 6
3 to 4
4 to 10
6 to 7
Elevation Range
This graph shows the elevation of each sample picture that
we took as data. Patterns within the graph involve the
elevation is usually an even integer.