"The new research utilizes imagery from orbit, allowing the motion of many more of these twisters to be tracked. In addition, researchers have been able to show that the strongest winds on Mars can blow much faster than thought, up to 158 km/h. That said, the atmosphere on Mars is so thin that a human would barely notice a wind of 100 km/h."
"Researchers trained a neural network to identify dust devils in the data and found them across the surface, from the plains to the volcanoes. Many were swept up from "source regions" such as Amazonis Planitia, which is covered in a fine layer of dust and sand. Researchers also found that dust devils are more common in the spring and summer of each hemisphere, typically last for only a few minutes, and peak between 1100 and 1400 local solar time."
Decades of ESA Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter imagery reveal 1,039 tornado-like whirlwinds that lift and transport dust across Mars. A neural network identified dust devils globally, including plains and volcanoes and concentrated source regions like Amazonis Planitia. Strongest winds reach up to 158 km/h, though thin atmospheric density reduces force on humans. Dust devils occur mostly in local spring and summer, peak between 1100–1400 local solar time, and typically last only a few minutes. Orbital multi-channel imaging timing and image noise enabled motion tracking despite orbiters not being designed to measure winds.
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