History and Applications of Dust Devil Studies

Ralph D. Lorenz , Matthew R. Balme , Zhaolin Gu , Henrik Kahanpää , Martina Klose , Michael V. Kurgansky , Manish R. Patel , Dennis Reiss , Angelo Pio Rossi , Aymeric Spiga (1) , Tetsuya Takemi , Wei Wei

1 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)

Studies of dust devils, and their impact on society, are reviewed. Dust devils have been noted since antiquity, and have been documented in many countries, as well as on the planet Mars. As time-variable vortex entities, they have become a cultural motif. Three major stimuli of dust devil research are identified, nuclear testing, terrestrial climate studies, and perhaps most significantly, Mars research. Dust devils present an occasional safety hazard to light structures and have caused several deaths.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Ralph D. Lorenz, Matthew R. Balme, Zhaolin Gu, Henrik Kahanpää, Martina Klose, et al.. History and Applications of Dust Devil Studies. Space Science Reviews, 2016, 203, pp.5-37. ⟨10.1007/s11214-016-0239-2⟩. ⟨insu-03727096⟩