[X] My Assistant

[ilbasso]

Now that we're coming through another Martian winter at Gusev, anyone want to wager a Mars Bar on what sol we will be seeing our first dust devil this season?

[climber]

Now that we're coming through another Martian winter at Gusev, anyone want to wager a Mars Bar on what sol we will be seeing our first dust devil this season?

May be we have to set up a panel

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Speaking of dust devils at Gusev, Greeley et al. just had a paper on the subject published in JGR-Planets. Figure 2 of the paper is a cool image (2N181053592EFFAEOTP0607L0M1) that I'd never noticed before, though I'm sure the resident Pancam hounds saw it.

[Stu]

Link to that image...

[jamescanvin]

Great another pool.

So the first DD was seen on sol 421, add one M-year gets us to 1089/1090.

Now on one hand DD's are going to be much harder to see this year, we can't see much of the plains and being back at 'plain level' they will not have the ground as a backdrop making them harder to see. On the other hand though, the team knows when to start looking and at what time of day this year.

Hmm, difficult, I think I'm going to go with 1094.

JAmes

[climber]

1054, the year of the Crab Nebulae formation.
Would be nice to have a picture of one from MRO.
I know that MGS capture some but MRO's will be something.

[Tesheiner]

Mmm, as you said James, Spirit is not located at the best location for DD hunting so I will place my bet about one (earth) month later.

Sol 1120.

[slinted]

Latitudinal dependency in dust devil activity on Mars had an interesting analysis of Gusev dust devils. Inside the search box which included Gusev, Whelley and Greeley found dust devils tracks all year, although there was a substantial increase during what we know to be the 'season'. I also think a good case could be made that the El Dorado streaks are from dust devils, although spotting one in the act could be a challenge.

That being said, I'm going to put my optimistic bet down for sol 1065, in the hope that the new dust devil detection software is used soon. I think the first one will be imaged not long after they begin looking.

[climber]

Can't remember the approx. time of the Sol the DD start. We need some heating for sure.
The meaning of my question is because we need Spirit to be awake to catch one and I'm not sure she'll have enough power in one month from now.

[ustrax]

Mmm, as you said James, Spirit is not located at the best location for DD hunting so I will place my bet about one (earth) month later.

Sol 1120.

Minus one:
1119

[Rakhir]

1100 for me.

[ngunn]

Would be nice to have a picture of one from MRO.
I know that MGS capture some but MRO's will be something.

Just a thought: I wonder if HiRISE could be programmed to take many repeat images of a smaller area instead of one big image? Could dust devil movies be constructed this way?

[Pertinax]

Hmm,

That is a good question -- our viewing location is worse, but our detection ability is better.... again, hmmmm....

let's say sol 1111 for fun.


-- Pertinax

[CosmicRocker]

I definitely have to side with the optimistic minority this time, and guess sol 1070. I think the team's experience plus the new software will outweigh any disadvantage the viewing angle might present. Of course, my optimism depends on them using the new software very soon.

IIRC, during most of the last DD season we didn't have a good view into the inner basin. However, quite a number of plains DDs were observed heading in that general direction. We are largely surrounded by hills here, so being down near the plain level is probably not as much of a disadvantage here, as it would be out on the plains.

[Marz]

I'm betting on a late season sighting of Sol 1177