Changes at Low Ridge Haven Options

[remcook]

I think both MSL and Exomars plan to have windsensors on them. Maybe MPL? Not sure...

Imaging a string or windsock is actually a very inefficient way of measuring wind as data rates are concerned. Also, I guess you want to have your sensor some distance away from the rover, otherwise it would tell more about the thermal emission from the rover than the 'normal' wind on Mars. This may require a boom.

An overview:
http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/main/research/posters2005/2005cw.pdf

[Gray]

The scientific value of a windsock on the sundial may have been minimal, but he PR value might have been huge. I'm thinking science education of school kids. It could be a great lead-in for lots of science projects. Which was is the wind blowing on Mars? First you have to figure out which way the rover is facing, then measure the bearing of the wind-sock. If observations are made over a long time, it could lead to discussions of the seasons, prevailing winds and dunes etc, etc.

[helvick]

Maybe MPL? Not sure...

I think you mean Phoenix not MPL. In any case Phoenix will have a MET instrumentation package that does lots of meteorological science but interestingly does not include any direct wind speed sensor. There is some talk of using one (or more) or the mast mounted atmospheric temperature sensors as a hot wire anemometer. Deborah Bass mentioned on her blog in May 2005 that they had decided to add a telltale to one of the masts so they could detect really low wind speeds.

[alan]

Another streak formed on El Dorado, this one running left to right.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...07P1765L0M1.JPG

[slinted]

Alan, good eyes!

To back up a bit, the pancams that came down today show 2 new streaks on El Dorado that formed sometime between sol 980 and 992. Here are the relevant frames for comparison in L2:
980 west east
992 west east

Here's an difference-enhanced view of cumulative changes between sol 924 and 992:


The movie of the changes (not enhanced) is here.

That being said, the much newer navcam image Alan pointed out shows even more activity. I'm looking forward to seeing more recent the pancam coverage of that spot in the sols to come.

[CosmicRocker]

Wow, it's really amazing how much activity you guys are catching at El Dorado.

Helvick: Thanks for mentioning the telltale comment on the Deborah Bass blog. It is interesting to note that she spent a few lines talking about who would pay for the threads. I guess the reality of the situation is that they could never simply tie a few threads onto a spacecraft as an ad hoc experiment designed to simply provide qualitative data, as I was suggesting. It sounds like a good opportunity for someone to create a high-tech startup company that manufactures telltales calibrated to the planetary conditions of your choice.

[dilo]

Is a streak invasion, guys!

The movie of the changes (not enhanced) is here.

If you look carefully, in the last frame there is also another weak strike on the right, at the margin of ElDorado!

[Burmese]

One wonders if this 'activity' is occuring everywhere but that El Dorado, with it's 'finely sorted' material, is simply able to record a footprint of the activity better than elsewhere in the area.

[Tesheiner]

Yeah, this place is very dynamic.
I would say these streaks are part of cycle repeating year after year (mars year off course). Remember when we got the first views of the whole El Dorado area right before arriving at Home Plate (mmm, it was about sol 740) and no streaks were visible; now, we can see them. My 2c hypotesis is that once this windy season comes to an end the streaks will slowly disappear due to dust deposition, so by sol 1500 they won't be visible any more.

[climber]

It's strange to see such a dynamic place where Steve Squyres on last Q-nA mentioned a place where sand is trapped and stay there (If I undestood it correctly). Mars is telling us something again... I'd better say "Mars is writing something to us". Nice draw and choregraphy on an aesthetic point of view.

[Burmese]

Particles of a certain size stay there, smaller ones don't, apparently. The thin coating of dust there seems to come off more readily then elsewhere and thus such a change is more visible in that area. Perhaps El Dorado is a sort of 'canary in the mine' indicator of wind activity due to its' composition and location.

[ustrax]

Now that the exhile it's over it is time to see what Spirit has been doing all this time...
MER at Work

[fredk]

New dark streak visible between sols 1010 and 1013 near feature Oberth on McCool Hill, so far just in the front hazcams. Here's a difference image, 1010 minus 1013, so the dark streak appears light here:

You can see the streak in other images from sol 1013. I hope we get navcams of this area!

[alan]

Another new streak at El Dorado, running from the to center to the right. Won't be long before El Dorado is all dark.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...20P0740L0M1.JPG

[dilo]

Yes, Alan... In reality, there are two new streaks, crossing each other:

someone is writing a msg... perhaps Mel Gibson or Ustrax knows the meaning!