Dune Migration on Mars
A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 2916
Special Issue Editors
Interests: dunes; Mars; sand; wind ; migration
Interests: geology and climate history of Mars; aeolian processes; geomorphology; spectroscopy; mineralogy; remote sensing and robotic exploration of Mars; mission operations
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aeolian dunes are abundant on the surface of Mars. Mostly located in a vast erg surrounding the north polar cap and inside impact craters in the Southern Martian hemisphere, dunes on Mars consist of basaltic sand and appear dark in orbiter images. Unlike Earth, where compound/complex longitudinal dunes dominate in sandy deserts, most of the dunes of Mars have a simple barchan/transverse morphology (although linear and star dune forms can also be observed), and their slopes are sculpted by large wind ripples. Despite the low density of the present-day atmosphere (six millibar on average), winds on Mars are strong enough to saltate sand and move not only ripples but even whole dune bodies. Thus, tracking the magnitude and direction of dune (and ripple) movement at the surface of Mars can give precious hints regarding surface wind circulation, sand fluxes, and erosion rates. These are key aspects when it comes to understanding the Martian geology and its atmospheric environment as meteorological data at the surface are still scarce. In addition, the movement of dunes and ripples can provide invaluable ground truth for atmospheric models.
With more than ten years of repeated high-resolution images of the surface of Mars, dune migration can now be tracked in the “long-term”, helping to address migration seasonality and the effect of extreme atmospheric events, such as dust storms. In addition, the abundance of three-dimensional surface data can help to address the complex interplay between regional/local topography and dune migration and fluxes, a topic that is still at its infancy for Mars.
This Research Topic aims to collect the latest research progress and achievements on dune migration on Mars. Contributions could include but are not limited to:
- Using remote sensing methods in the study of dunes (and ripples) dynamics;
- Terrestrial dune (and ripples) analogue studies;
- Physic of sand movement;
- CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations of the flow above dunes;
- Dune mineralogy.
Dr. Simone Silvestro
Dr. Daniela Tirsch
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- dunes
- Mars
- sand
- wind
- migration
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