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Brian Jackson edited section_Background__.tex
almost 9 years ago
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\section*{Background}
Dust devils are small-scale (few to many tens of meters) low-pressure vortices rendered visible by lofted dust. They usually occur in arid climates on the Earth and ubiquitously on Mars, where they likely dominate the supply of atmospheric dust and influence climate. Martian dust devils have been studied with orbiting and landed spacecraft and were first identified on Mars using images from the Viking Orbiter \cite{THOMAS_1985}. A long series of subsequent imaging studies have since identified more dust devils and measured important propre
while planetary analog studies of terrestrial dust devils involve in-person monitoring of field sites and surveys with in-situ barometers \citet[e.g.][]{Jackson_2015} and, recently, using photovoltaic sensors. In \citet{JacksonLorenz2015} and \citet{LorenzJackson2015}, we used time-series from individual barometers and photometers to reveal seasonal, annual, and spatial dust devil variability and the influence of sample size on the derived population statistics.
They have been observed to persist from minutes to hours and can travel kilometers, often carried by the ambient wind [Lorenz, 2013a]. On Earth, they are observed in arid locations primarily, where the ground is usually dry enough to provide a ready supply of dust [e.g., Balme and Greeley, 2006]. On Mars, they have been observed ubiquitously, both from the ground [Metzger et al., 1999] and from orbiting spacecraft [Cantor et al., 2006]. On both planets, dust devils contribute to the atmospheric aerosol content, sometimes increasing the dust content over the U.S. Southwest by more than an order of magnitude [Renno et al., 2004]. On Mars, dust devils may be the primary source for atmospheric dust, which plays a role in the radiative balance of the Martian atmosphere and, therefore, on the planet's meteorology [Basu et al., 2004]. Dust devils also seem to have lengthened the operating lifetime of Martian rovers by frequently cleaning their solar panels (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status_opportunityAll.html#sol3603). Since the dust supply from dust devils on both planets may be dominated by the seldom observed larger devils, it is particularly important to study the underlying distribution of dust devils, rather than focusing on the typical devil. Thus, elucidating the origin, evolution, and population statistics of dust devils is critical for understanding important terrestrial and Martian atmospheric properties and for in situ exploration of Mars.
While the pressure dips associated with dust devils have been recorded on Earth [e.g., Wyett, 1954; Lambeth, 1966; Sinclair, 1973], they are actually more systematically documented in studies of dust devils on Mars (e.g., by Mars Pathfinder: Murphy and Nelli, 2002; and by the Phoenix mission: Ellehoj et al., 2010), where landers have recorded meteorological parameters over long periods with a high enough cadence to detect small vortical structures. Most terrestrial meteorological records have cadence too low (canonically, 15 min) to record dust devils, for which a sampling rate of ∼1 Hz or better is typically required.
