HR: 0800h
AN: P31B-0983    [Abstracts]
TI: Searching for Active Dust Devils in Gusev Crater from Orbit by {\it Mars Express} and the Ground from {\it Spirit}
AU: * Whelley, P L
EM: pwhelley@asu.edu
AF: Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 United States
AU: Greeley, R
EM: greeley@asu.edu
AF: Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 United States
AU: Neakrase, L D
EM: neakrase@asu.edu
AF: Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 United States
AU: Thompson, S D
EM: shane.d.thompson@asu.edu
AF: Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 United States
AU: Foley, D J
EM: danny.foley@asu.edu
AF: Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 United States
AU: Landis, G A
EM: geoffrey.landis@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Glenn Research Center, MS 302-1, Cleveland, OH 44135 United States
AU: Squyres, S
EM: squyres@astro.cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, Department of Astronomy, 428 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301 United States
AU: Neukum, G
EM: gneukum@zedat.fu-berlin.de
AF: Freie Universitaet Berlin, Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geosciences, Remote Sensing of the Earth and Planets, Malteserstr. 74-100, Building D, Berlin, D-12249 Germany
AU: The Athena Science Team, .
EM: squyres@astro.cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, Department of Astronomy, 428 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301 United States
AU: The Mars Express HRSC Science Team, .
EM: gneukum@zedat.fu-berlin.de
AF: Freie Universitaet Berlin, Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geosciences, Remote Sensing of the Earth and Planets, Malteserstr. 74-100, Building D, Berlin, D-12249 Germany
AB: Prior to the landing of the {\it Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit}, orbital data revealed numerous low albedo features in the Gusev crater landing ellipse attributed to the passage of dust devils (DD), and it was anticipated that active DD would be seen during {\it Spirit} operations. {\it Spirit} landed on a linear dark feature considered to be a DD track. {\it Mars Express} images taken after the landing were compared to images taken just before the landing; results show that many of the dark DD tracks in the area had faded over one martian year (inferred to be the result of dust settling on the surface) and that new tracks had formed in areas north and west of the final {\it Spirit} landing site. The three camera systems on {\it Spirit} (Pancam, Hazcam, Navcam) were used to search for active DD in a campaign similar to that used successfully during the {\it Mars Pathfinder} mission. However, thus far no active DD have been seen from the surface. We attribute this result to one or more of the following: 1) no DD formed within sight of {\it Spirit}, 2) observations were not taken at the time or place of DD activity, 3) camera filters/compression values were insufficient to image active DD, or 4) current image processing techniques are inadequate for detecting active DD. As Spirit continues operations, additional searches will be made when resources allow.
DE: 5409 Atmospheres--structure and dynamics
DE: 5415 Erosion and weathering
DE: 5464 Remote sensing
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting