Dust Devils Simulation at the Phoenix Mars Lander Site

During the Phoenix Mars Lander operation (Ls= 76 to 148), numerous coincidences of a short pressure drop and temperature increment were detected by the meterological package that probably indicate the passage of convective vortices or dust devils over or near to the lander. The lander’s Surface Stereo Imager also observed active dust devils around noon on Ls=124 in the vicinity of the lander. For the analysis of these events, physical characteristics of naturally formed dust devils on the lander’s environment have been investigated by adopting and developing the NCAR LES for Martian Convective Boundary Layer simulations. Phoenix data and previous dust observations on Mars are used to design our micro-scale simulations in order to address the vertical distribution of fine dust particles (~2μm) lifted by dust devils from the surface.