In the study, researchers used the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, ExoMars, and Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft to examine 1,039 hurricane-like air vortices as they passed through the Red Planet.

The results showed that the strongest winds on Mars blow much faster than previously thought, and helped begin the creation of a catalog of these “dust devils”, which could support further future studies.

This index represents the first time data has been collected on the speeds and directions of movement of dust devils across the planet Mars.

For decades, scientists have been observing this phenomenon using orbiters and rovers that land on the planet. But the new study actually tracked its movement to better understand how it moved across the surface.

In this regard, Valentin Bickel from the University of Bern, who led the work, said: “Dust devils make invisible winds visible. By measuring their speed and direction of travel, we have begun to map the winds all over the surface of Mars. This was previously impossible because we did not have enough data to make this kind of measurement on a global scale.”

The importance of dust is not limited to understanding winds, but it also performs an important function in itself. The dust acts as a shield from the sun during the day, cooling the planet, and retains heat during the evening to maintain warmth. It can also represent the beginnings of cloud formation.

Dust stays on Mars for a much longer time, because it is not washed away by rain as it is on Earth. Thus, scientists are trying to understand how all this dust interacts with the planet’s atmosphere.

The new study used an artificial intelligence system to identify dust devils, then examined images taken of Mars to determine their locations. This resulted in the creation of an index of 1,039 vortices, 373 of which contained information about the direction of their movement.

Scientists discovered that these eddies move at speeds of up to 158 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than previously thought.

All this information about Martian winds and other parts of its atmosphere may be key to future exploration.

“Wind speed and direction information is also very important when planning the arrival of future orbiters and rovers to Mars,” Valentin added. “Our measurements can help scientists build an understanding of the wind conditions at the landing site before arrival, which may help them estimate the amount of dust that might settle on the rover’s solar panels, and thus determine the number of self-cleaning times required.”

Source: Independent