In situ measurements of particle load and transport in dust devils

Metzger, S. M.; Balme, M. R.; Towner, M. C.; Bos, Brent J.; Ringrose, T. J.; Patel, Manish R.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.03.013

Cited by 48 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Small negative grains tend to lift upward and large positive grains remain lower in such features, giving rise to the large-scale dipole moment and E-field like that measured within terrestrial dust devils (Freier 1960;Crozier 1964;Renno et al 2004;Jackson and Farrell 2006). The dust load for a nominal terrestrial dust devil has been estimated to be up to ∼10 −3 kg m −3 (Metzger et al 2011). Assuming a dust devil primarily contains particles of ∼5 µm diameter carrying −5 fC per particle with an upward flux of ∼2 × 10 9 m 2 s −1 2006b), an estimate of the associated upward tribo-charging current source would be ∼10 −5 A m −2 .…”

Section: Tribo-electric Current Generation J Tribomentioning

confidence: 94%

Applications of Electrified Dust and Dust Devil Electrodynamics to Martian Atmospheric Electricity

et al. 2016

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Atmospheric transport and suspension of dust frequently brings electrification, which may be substantial. Electric fields of 10 kV m −1 to 100 kV m −1 have been observed at the surface beneath suspended dust in the terrestrial atmosphere, and some electrification has been observed to persist in dust at levels to 5 km, as well as in volcanic plumes. The interaction between individual particles which causes the electrification is incompletely understood, and multiple processes are thought to be acting. A variation in particle charge with particle size, and the effect of gravitational separation explains to, some extent, the charge structures observed in terrestrial dust storms. More extensive flow-based modelling demonstrates that bulk electric fields in excess of 10 kV m −1 can be obtained rapidly (in less than 10 s) from rotating dust systems (dust devils) and that terrestrial breakdown fields can be obtained. Modelled profiles of electrical conductivity in the Martian atmosphere suggest the possibility of dust electrification, and dust devils have been suggested as a mechanism of charge separation able to maintain current flow between one region of the atmosphere and another, through a global circuit. Fundamental new understanding of Martian atmospheric electricity will result from the ExoMars mission, which carries the DREAMS (Dust characterization, Risk Assessment, and Environment Analyser on the Martian Surface)-B R.G. Harrison

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Section: Tribo-electric Current Generation J Tribomentioning

confidence: 94%

Applications of Electrified Dust and Dust Devil Electrodynamics to Martian Atmospheric Electricity

et al. 2016

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“…Field studies of dust devil tracks on Earth (Reiss et al (2010a) were complemented by new temporal data for the development of dust devil tracks on Mars (Reiss et al, 2011b). Innovative field techniques led to in situ measurements of many attributes of dust devils (Metzger et al, 2011), and laboratory simulations have documented the growth and evolution of dust devils (Neakrase and Greeley, 2010a, b). Dust devils have been observed in action so often that the statistics of their occurrence can be explored quantitatively for both Earth and Mars (Pathare et al, 2010;Lorenz, 2011;Kurgansky, 2012).…”

Section: Analogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent developments in planetary Aeolian studies and their terrestrial analogs

2013

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“…Here we examine a continuous high-resolution pressure record to provide a census of vortices on Earth at a location known for dust-devil activity (e.g. Pathare et al, 2010;Metzger et al, 2011;Balme et al, 2013), although it should be considered that such an approach detects pressure drops from all vortices without reference to whether they are dust-laden or not. Because the survey is made post hoc on the pressure time series, it is directly analogous to the surveys conducted on Mars (Murphy and Nelli, 2002;Ellehoj et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Barometric Survey of Dust-Devil Vortices on a Desert Playa

Lorenz

Lanagan

2014

Boundary-Layer Meteorol

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Dust devils, and other columnar vortices, are associated with local surface pressure drops that can be observed in time-series data on both Earth and Mars. High cadence measurements are needed to resolve these small structures, and we report a month-long survey (June/July 2012) on a Nevada desert playa using microbarographs sampled multiple times per second. Candidate dust-devil signatures are classified, with detections being robust at about one per day for pressure drops exceeding 0.3 hPa (roughly a 5:1 signal-to-noise threshold, where the observed noise level corresponds reasonably well with the dynamic pressure associated with the estimate convective velocity scale). The vortex population is evaluated and compared with those observed on Mars : a broken power law or a more convex distribution describes the terrestrial data. A single station observes about three events per week (for normalized pressure drops of 0.06%), about three times fewer than Mars observations for the same normalized drop. We find evidence for clustering of vortex events in a pseudoperiodic manner with a 20-min period, consistent with the size of boundary-layer convection cells.

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In situ measurements of particle load and transport in dust devils

Abstract: In-situ (mobile) sampling of 33 natural dust devil vortices reveals very high total

Cited by 48 publications

References 29 publications

Applications of Electrified Dust and Dust Devil Electrodynamics to Martian Atmospheric Electricity

Applications of Electrified Dust and Dust Devil Electrodynamics to Martian Atmospheric Electricity

Recent developments in planetary Aeolian studies and their terrestrial analogs

A Barometric Survey of Dust-Devil Vortices on a Desert Playa

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