Comparing wind directions inferred from Martian dust devil tracks analysis with those predicted by the Mars Climate Database. (15th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Statella, T.; Pina, P.; Silva, E.A.; Nervis Frigeri, Ary Vinicius; Neto, Frederico Gallon
• Is Part Of: Planetary and space science. Volume 131(2016)
• Page Start: 60
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2016-10-15
• Subjects: Space sciences -- Periodicals; Atmosphere, Upper -- Periodicals; Sciences spatiales -- Périodiques; Haute atmosphère -- Périodiques; 523
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2016.07.004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0032-0633

Abstract

Abstract: We have calculated the prevailing dust devil tracks direction as a means of verifying the Mars Climate Database (MCD) predicted wind directions accuracy. For that purpose we have applied an automatic method based on morphological openings for inferring the prevailing tracks direction in a dataset comprising 200 Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Narrow Angle (NA) and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images of the Martian surface, depicting regions in the Aeolis, Eridania, Noachis, Argyre and Hellas quadrangles. The prevailing local wind directions were calculated from the MCD predicted speeds for the WE and SN wind components. The results showed that the MCD may not be able to predict accurately the locally dominant wind direction near the surface. In adittion, we confirm that the surface wind stress alone cannot produce dust lifting in the studied sites, since it never exceeds the threshold value of 0.0225 Nm −2 in the MCD. Highlights: We have calculated the prevailing dust devil tracks direction as a means of verifying the Mars Climate Database (MCD) predicted wind directions accuracy. An automatic method based on morphological openings was used for inferring the prevailing tracks direction in a dataset comprising 200 MOC NA and HiRISE images of the Martian surface, depicting regions in the Aeolis, Eridania, Noachis, Argyre and Hellas quadrangles. The results showed that there is a general disagreement between MCD climatological large-scale near-surface wind direction predictions and prevailing local wind directions inferred from dust-devil tracks