by Our two-person team invited the car with a GPS, a drone, notebooks, sample bags, a trowel and a flat spatula as a scoopula. Then we drove for 30 minutes in our rented truck from Yuma, Arizona, to the Algodones Dunes, a sandy field on California, Arizona and Mexico. The day was sunny, with a strong breeze. We turned the highway and went carefully onto a gravel path that acted as our street.
After we made progress properly – although bumpy – we moved to the sand flats and slowly drove towards the dunes, located that we could get stuck in the sand. After we arrived at the outskirts of the algodones, we stopped and loaded our backpacks and then made ourselves on foot.
The rough and fine-grained sand on the Algodonen dunes. Lauren Berger
It was November 2022. As a doctoral student at Texas A & M University, I started part of my doctoral student. Research with my consultant, geology professor Ryan Ewing. We searched for coarse -grained sand waves, which are patterned piles of sand that are shaped by wind. Sand waves and sand dunes are types of aeolic bed shapes that are windgian features.
Aeolic bed shapes are common on earth and via the solar system, including on Mars, Venus, Pluto, the Saturn Moon Titan, the Neptune Moon Triton and the Comet 67P. These geological characteristics among the first land forms observed by distant pictures of planetary surfaces are robust indicators for the wind patterns of a world.
Fly a drone at algodones. Note the GPS on the tripod and a GPS target on the floor, which was also a landing pad for the drone. Ryan Ewing
Measurement of sand patterns personally
The shapes and patterns of the aeolic bed shapes can show the environmental conditions that you have generated.
Two sizes of the same bed shape as small dunes on large dunes are referred to as composed bed shapes. I study composite bed shapes in two scales-like waves in meters and centimeters on the dunes here on earth and the kilometer and meter size dunes on the Mars.
In the algodons I measured the height of every large, coarse -grained sandwave and the distance between neighboring waves. Then we flew our drone low and steadily over the waves to create high -resolution images. The drone data enable us to carry out further measurements on the waves later, back at my desk.
On this day I learned an essential rule of field work in the desert: don’t forget a shovel. Otherwise you have to dig it up by hand if your vehicle gets stuck as ours did. Fortunately, a Dune buggy driver helped us and we were able to return to Yuma in good time for dinner.
High -resolution drone images of the sand waves in algodons. Lauren Berger
My introduction to Mars
For the first time I was interested in Aeolic bed forms in the second year of study when I interned Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My job was to see surface images of Mars and then map the sand waves in the regions in which the persistence that Mars Rover could land. I examined the areas where waves could have driven – places where the rover could put in the sand as our rental car did in the algodons.
I depicted these sand waves on Mars for two years. But while I mapped, I was fascinated by the patterns that made the waves.
As a doctoral student and emerging planetary geologist, my time between the work on site and my computer is divided, where I put together the photographs of the drone to create a large picture of the entire investigation area. I then search for composed dunes on the surface of the Mars in pictures that were recorded by the context camera of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Scientists already know about the weather patterns of the earth, the grain grain size and the wind data. By measuring different parts of bed shapes on both planets – such as their size, shape and distance – I can compare the similarities and differences in the forms of bed to find indications of the wind patterns, grains and atmosphere on Mars. Slowly but surely when I hear Studio Ghibli Soundtracks, I create the first compound dunes database on Mars.
The development of this database is essential for the proposed human mission to Mars. Dust towers are common and some can circle the entire planet. Understanding acolish bed forms helps scientists to know where to set bases so that they are not buried by movement.
It is wonderful to spend an afternoon ping ponging on a planet that is 140 million miles away from us and sees beautiful terrain while trying to answer questions about the compound dunes on Mars. How often are you? Where do they form? How do you compare to those on earth? I hope to answer these questions when I work to earn my doctorate in geology.
This article will be released from the conversation, a non -profit, independent news organization that brings you facts and trustworthy analyzes to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: Lauren Berger, Texas A&M University
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Lauren Berger receives from Nasa Finest Finding. Lauren Berger wants to help her mentors Dr. Ryan Ewing (Nasa Johnson Space Center), Dr. Marion Nachon (Texas A & M University) and Dr. Yelia Reece (Texas A & M University) recognize.
