The sound of a Martian dust devil

N. Murdoch (), A. E. Stott, M. Gillier, R. Hueso, M. Lemmon, G. Martinez, V. Apéstigue, D. Toledo, R. D. Lorenz, B. Chide, A. Munguira, A. Sánchez-Lavega, A. Vicente-Retortillo, C. E. Newman, S. Maurice, M. Torre Juárez, T. Bertrand, D. Banfield, S. Navarro, M. Marin, J. Torres, J. Gomez-Elvira, X. Jacob, A. Cadu, A. Sournac, J. A. Rodriguez-Manfredi, R. C. Wiens and D. Mimoun
Additional contact information
N. Murdoch: Université de Toulouse
A. E. Stott: Université de Toulouse
M. Gillier: Université de Toulouse
R. Hueso: Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU)
M. Lemmon: Space Science Institute
G. Martinez: Universities Space Research Association
V. Apéstigue: Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
D. Toledo: Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
R. D. Lorenz: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
B. Chide: Los Alamos National Laboratory
A. Munguira: Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU)
A. Sánchez-Lavega: Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU)
A. Vicente-Retortillo: Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
C. E. Newman: Aeolis Research
S. Maurice: Université de Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, CNRS, CNES
M. Torre Juárez: California Institute of Technology
T. Bertrand: Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité
D. Banfield: Cornell University
S. Navarro: Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
M. Marin: Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
J. Torres: Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
J. Gomez-Elvira: Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
X. Jacob: Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, INP, CNRS
A. Cadu: Université de Toulouse
A. Sournac: Université de Toulouse
J. A. Rodriguez-Manfredi: Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
R. C. Wiens: Purdue University
D. Mimoun: Université de Toulouse

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Dust devils (convective vortices loaded with dust) are common at the surface of Mars, particularly at Jezero crater, the landing site of the Perseverance rover. They are indicators of atmospheric turbulence and are an important lifting mechanism for the Martian dust cycle. Improving our understanding of dust lifting and atmospheric transport is key for accurate simulation of the dust cycle and for the prediction of dust storms, in addition to being important for future space exploration as grain impacts are implicated in the degradation of hardware on the surface of Mars. Here we describe the sound of a Martian dust devil as recorded by the SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance rover. The dust devil encounter was also simultaneously imaged by the Perseverance rover’s Navigation Camera and observed by several sensors in the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer instrument. Combining these unique multi-sensorial data with modelling, we show that the dust devil was around 25 m large, at least 118 m tall, and passed directly over the rover travelling at approximately 5 m s−1. Acoustic signals of grain impacts recorded during the vortex encounter provide quantitative information about the number density of particles in the vortex. The sound of a Martian dust devil was inaccessible until SuperCam microphone recordings. This chance dust devil encounter demonstrates the potential of acoustic data for resolving the rapid wind structure of the Martian atmosphere and for directly quantifying wind-blown grain fluxes on Mars.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35100-z

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