2012 April 13
Dust Devils, a metological phenomena that we never see in Florida, occurs regularly on Mars! The HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this dust devil; it has a diameter of 30 meters and the plume towers 800 meters into the martian atmosphere. This is caused by the sun's warming of Mars' surface, causing winds that pick up dust particles and cause a tornado-like effect. As hot low-pressure air is picked up it circulates and then cools as the air moves upward; the wind speed is usually around 110 km or 68 mph. The dust it displaces leaves tracks in the surface of Mars. The picture taken was of the Amazonis Planitia reigon of Mars, named for the "Land of the Amazons.
Additionally, time on Mars is easily divided into days based on its rotation rate and years based on its orbit. Sols, or Martian solar days, are only 37 minutes and 22 seconds longer than Earth days. I guess that means there is a unique martian solar year!
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