Imperial College London
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Professor Tom Pike

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Professor of Microengineering
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6207w.t.pike

 
 
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Location

 

604Electrical EngineeringSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@misc{Charalambous:2023:10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9921,
author = {Charalambous, C and Golombek, M and Pike, T and Lemmon, M and Spiga, A and Newman, C and Ansan, V and Baker, M and Banks, M and Lorenz, R and Stott, A and Viudez-Moreiras, D},
doi = {10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9921},
title = {The Aeolian Activity at InSight Over Two Martian Years},
type = {Other},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9921},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - GEN
AB  - <jats:p>Aeolian activity, the movement of sand and dust by the wind, is common on Earth and has been observed on other planets [1]. Under the current climatic conditions on Mars, aeolian activity is the primary process of surface modification driven by winds, dust storms and wind vortices. Landed and orbiting cameras show that widespread aeolian activity occurs despite low measured and modelled winds, challenging Earth-based theories [2, 3]. Dust particles enter into long-term suspension forming global dust storms which drastically alter the Martian atmospheric dynamics and present hazards to robotic and human missions.Several models have been proposed on the long-standing conundrum of sediment transport on Mars, however, none of these have been verified on the planet. The outstanding question of what wind shear velocities mobilize sediments on Mars has remained elusive despite multiple spacecrafts carrying wind sensors and studying aeolian activity on finer spatial and temporal scales than can be achieved in orbit. Quantitative examination of aeolian activity under natural Martian surface conditions is imperative in validating transport models.The InSight lander has provided a unique opportunity for monitoring simultaneous coverage of aeolian activity on Mars by combining, for the first time, imaging with atmospheric, seismic and magnetic measurements. Previous studies spanned over just half of the first Martian year, from the end of northern winter to midsummer, and observed minor aeolian activity limited to sporadic grain motion and dust devil tracks [4, 5].In this study, we extend observations of aeolian activity for two Martian years, allowing us to infer the seasonal evolution at the landing site. We report a series of remarkable daytime vortex-induced events with pressure excursions up to 10 Pa, including an investigation of the burst in daytime vortices and emergence of nighttime vortices in northern autumn. Despite our observations reinforcing the qui
AU  - Charalambous,C
AU  - Golombek,M
AU  - Pike,T
AU  - Lemmon,M
AU  - Spiga,A
AU  - Newman,C
AU  - Ansan,V
AU  - Baker,M
AU  - Banks,M
AU  - Lorenz,R
AU  - Stott,A
AU  - Viudez-Moreiras,D
DO  - 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9921
PY  - 2023///
TI  - The Aeolian Activity at InSight Over Two Martian Years
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9921
ER  -
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