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Dust Devil Populations and Statistics

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Abstract

The highly-skewed diameter and pressure drop distributions of dust devils on Earth and Mars are noted, and challenges of presenting and comparing different types of observations are discussed. The widely-held view that Martian dust devils are larger than Earth’s is critically assessed: the question is confounded somewhat by different observation techniques, but some indication of a \({\sim} 3\mathrm{x}\) larger population on Mars is determined. The largest and most intense (in a relative pressure sense) devils recorded are on Mars, although the largest reported number density is on Earth. The difficulties of concepts used in the literature of ‘average’ diameter, pressure cross section, and area fraction are noted in the context of estimating population-integral effects such as dust lifting.

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Notes

  1. ‘Complete’ in the sense of detecting all devils present in the survey area. Surveys in small areas may statistically encounter less than one devil for large sizes and so are not ‘complete’ in the sense of fully characterizing the population unless they are conducted for a long enough period – see Lorenz (2011). Note that a true power law has no limit, and so there are an infinite number of infinitely small dust devils, which is clearly not the case. In practice there is a lower limit, suggested to be the Obhukhov scale or \({\sim} 1~\mbox{m}\) for typical conditions on Earth.

  2. The Planetary Atmospheres Node of NASA’s Planetary Data System provides support for researchers who wish to archive their dust devil data – http://atmos.nmsu.edu/atmos-home.html.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, 20723, USA

    Ralph D. Lorenz

  2. Department of Physics, Boise State University, Boise, ID, 83702, USA

    Brian K. Jackson

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  1. Ralph D. Lorenz
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Correspondence to Ralph D. Lorenz.

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Lorenz, R.D., Jackson, B.K. Dust Devil Populations and Statistics. Space Sci Rev 203, 277–297 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-016-0277-9

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