Dozens of active dust devils caught swirling across Mars canyon system

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

The European Space Agency's Mars Express has captured part of Mars's Mamers Valles, a fascinating valley system speckled with brief, tornado-like whirlwinds known as dust devils.

Dust devils form as parts of Mars warm in the sun, causing the air just above the surface to swirl upward and carry dust with it. Mars's dust devils are similar to those seen in dry, dusty landscapes on Earth, but far larger. They tower up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) high, rove about for kilometers at a time, and reach top speeds of 45 meters per second. They play a key role in moving dust across the planet.

Mars Express is uniquely equipped to spot these mini whirlwinds. To form a single image using its High Resolution Stereo Camera—the instrument responsible for these new snapshots—the spacecraft combines sequential views from up to nine separate camera channels (which look at Mars in a different color, from a different direction, or a mix of the two). If nothing changes on the Martian surface while these are being taken, the multiple perspectives align—but if something is moving about, it stands out clearly from its surroundings.

In this new set of images, Mars Express captures not one but dozens of active dust devils. Click on the image below to see more than 30 circled, each visible as a small yellow dot with a pinkish trailing "shadow."

The alignment and combination of Mars Express's various camera channels also allow scientists to figure out the direction and speed of Mars's dust devils. This is something scientists have done using data from both Mars Express and ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, revealing how more than 1,000 of these tornado-like storms move—and tracing how winds sweep around the planet.

Mamers Valles is a vast, broken-up, labyrinthine system of canyons and valleys etched into Mars's surface. The feature was named in 1976 based on the ancient Oscan language of pre-Roman Italy, with "Mamers" meaning "Mars" and "Valles" meaning "Valley."

These channels stretch out for around 1,000 km, crossing from Mars's ancient southern highlands into the planet's northern lowlands, and in places measure up to 25 km wide and 1.2 km deep (as shown most clearly in the associated topographical map below).

Surrounding these channels are various features: steep, flat hills known as mesas, sheer cliffs, and debris-covered glaciers. These glaciers contain water ice buried beneath a cover of rock