UNR researchers credited with finding dust devils on Mars

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 4:27 a.m.

Doctoral student Stephen Metzger made the discovery from Mars Pathfinder imagery, using methods suggested by professor James R. Carr at the Mackay School of Mines.

"Mars' atmosphere is extremely thin and very high wind velocities are needed to pick up dust," Carr said on Thursday. "These dust devils, or mini-twisters, cause these high winds."

Researchers believe the planet's famous dust storms, which can be seen with backyard telescopes and which cover the planet's surface every several years, may be triggered by dust devils.

Dust devils were thought to have been discovered by the Viking orbiter in 1976, but the information was difficult to verify, Carr said.

"The significance of this discovery is that it confirms the Viking discovery and shows that dust devils are an important geological process on Mars," he said. "In fact, dust devils may be the primary soil erosion process on Mars."

NASA has credited Metzger and Carr as the first researchers to discover the dust devils in Pathfinder imagery.

Metzger is a NASA Fellow, funded by the University of Nevada System Space Grant Consortium.