The dust ejection induced by a meteoroid impact as a possible initiator of dust devils on Mars: Laboratory experiment and numerical simulation

Khazins, V. M.; Rybakov, V. A.; Greeley, R. and Balme, M. (2004). The dust ejection induced by a meteoroid impact as a possible initiator of dust devils on Mars: Laboratory experiment and numerical simulation. Solar System Research, 38(1) pp. 12–20.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SOLS.0000015151.62960.f6

Abstract

The results are presented of a preliminary study that aims to validate the hypothesis about the possibility of the formation of a giant dust devil resulting from the interaction of the wind with the dust clouds initiated by the impacts of meter meteoroids on the Martian surface. The laboratory experiment allowed us to examine the dynamics in the wind field of the dust ejection, whose characteristics corresponded qualitatively to the features of a dust ejection induced by the meteoroid impact. It follows from numerical computations, which are validated to some extent by comparison with the results of laboratory simulation, that the wind flowing around a dust column results in a generation of vertical eddy structures. The interaction of these structures with a convective flow, which is formed, for example, as a result of the solar heating of dusty regions, can cause the development of a dust devil.