{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,8]],"date-time":"2026-02-08T15:38:28Z","timestamp":1770565108015,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1651104000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FDCT of Macau","award":["0088\/2018\/A3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0088\/2018\/A3"]}]},{"name":"FDCT of Macau","award":["0068\/2019\/A2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0068\/2019\/A2"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The spatial and temporal distribution of dust devils (DDs) in the two pre-selected landing regions (ZA and ZB) of the Tianwen-1 mission in southern Utopia Planitia have been investigated by using images from the Context Camera (CTX) of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). From the images of the regions in 8 Martian years, no DD was found in ZA, while 77 DDs were found in ZB. The observed DDs are mainly distributed in the northeastern part of ZB. The temporal variation in the observed DDs shows a prominent two-peak pattern in their local early spring and late summer. The size and height of the observed DDs have also been evaluated from the images, and they show a similar temporal variation as the occurrence. To investigate the possible conditions pertinent to these observed patterns of DD distribution, some analysis based on the thermodynamic theory of heat engines was performed using the output of the Mars climate model, MarsWRF. The spatial and temporal distribution of the simulated DDs are generally consistent with the observation, with significantly more DDs in ZB. Analysis of the model results suggests that the spatial distributions of the predicted DDs are mainly related to the distribution of sensible heat flux, which, in turn, is mainly determined by the surface-to-air temperature difference. The difference in DDs between ZA and ZB (more DDs in ZB) is dominated by the difference in sensible heat flux, which, in turn, is mainly related to the spatial variation of surface albedo.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14092117","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T22:20:06Z","timestamp":1651184406000},"page":"2117","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Characteristics of Dust Devils in Two Pre-Selected Landing Regions of the Tianwen-1 Mission\u2014Comparing Observations and Predictions Using Numerical Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0417-6367","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ye-Meng","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau 999078, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2512-5670","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kim-Chiu","family":"Chow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau 999078, China"},{"name":"China National Space Administration (CNSA), Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, Macau 999078, China"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau 999078, China"},{"name":"China National Space Administration (CNSA), Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, Macau 999078, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8894-525X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau 999078, China"},{"name":"China National Space Administration (CNSA), Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, Macau 999078, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greeley, R. (2003). Martian dust devils: Laboratory simulations of particle threshold. J. Geophys. Res., 108.","DOI":"10.1029\/2002JE001987"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2008.04.017","article-title":"Thehrsccoinvestigatorteam, Dust devil speeds, directions of motion and general characteristics observed by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera","volume":"197","author":"Stanzel","year":"2008","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"1","article-title":"Modeling the Martian dust cycle, 1. Representations of dust transport processes","volume":"107","author":"Newman","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Planets"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Basu, S. (2004). Simulation of the Martian dust cycle with the GFDL Mars GCM. J. Geophys. Res., 109.","DOI":"10.1029\/2004JE002243"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kahre, M.A., Murphy, J.R., and Haberle, R.M. (2006). Modeling the Martian dust cycle and surface dust reservoirs with the NASA Ames general circulation model. J. Geophys. Res., 111.","DOI":"10.1029\/2005JE002588"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Whelley, P.L., and Greeley, R. (2008). The distribution of dust devil activity on Mars. J. Geophys. Res., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JE002966"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1126\/science.230.4722.175","article-title":"Dust devils on Mars","volume":"230","author":"Thomas","year":"1985","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11005","DOI":"10.1029\/JC088iC15p11005","article-title":"Possible dust devils, vortices on Mars","volume":"88","author":"Ryan","year":"1983","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fisher, J.A., Richardson, M.I., Newman, C.E., Szwast, M.A., Graf, C., Basu, S., Ewald, S.P., Toigo, A.D., and Wilson, R.J. (2005). A survey of Martian dust devil activity using Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera images. J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 110.","DOI":"10.1029\/2003JE002165"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cantor, B.A., KKanak, M., and Edgett, K.S. (2006). Mars Orbiter Camera observations of Martian dust devils and their tracks (September 1997 to January 2006) and evaluation of theoretical vortex models. J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 111.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JE002700"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2013.08.028","article-title":"The horizontal motion of dust devils on Mars derived from CRISM and CTX\/HiRISE observations","volume":"227","author":"Reiss","year":"2014","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Choi, D.S., and Dundas, C.M. (2011). Measurements of Martian dust devil winds with HiRISE. Geophys. Res. Lett., 38.","DOI":"10.1029\/2011GL049806"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Perrin, C., Rodriguez, S., Jacob, A., Lucas, A., Spiga, A., Murdoch, N., Lorenz, R., Daubar, I.J., Pan, L., and Kawamura, T. (2020). Monitoring of Dust Devil Tracks Around the InSight Landing Site, Mars, and Comparison With In Situ Atmospheric Data. Geophys. Res. Lett., 47.","DOI":"10.1029\/2020GL087234"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2015.11.012","article-title":"Dust devil track survey at Elysium Planitia, Mars: Implications for the InSight landing sites","volume":"266","author":"Reiss","year":"2016","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balme, M.R. (2003). Mars: Dust devil track survey in Argyre Planitia and Hellas Basin. J. Geophys. Res., 108.","DOI":"10.1029\/2003JE002096"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2015.07.028","article-title":"Dust devil height and spacing with relation to the martian planetary boundary layer thickness","volume":"260","author":"Fenton","year":"2015","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Whelley, P.L., and Greeley, R. (2006). Latitudinal dependency in dust devil activity on Mars. J. Geophys. Res., 111.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JE002677"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3093","DOI":"10.1029\/92JE02946","article-title":"Mars atmospheric dynamics as simulated by the NASA Ames General Circulation Model. I\u2014The zonal-mean circulation","volume":"98","author":"Haberle","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Planets"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3442","DOI":"10.1029\/2019JE006082","article-title":"MarsWRF Convective Vortex and Dust Devil Predictions for Gale Crater Over 3 Mars Years and Comparison With MSL-REMS Observations","volume":"124","author":"Newman","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Planets"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, Y., Li, B., Zhang, J., Ling, Z., Qiao, L., Chen, S., and Qu, S. (2021). The Preliminary Study of Dust Devil Tracks in Southern Utopia Planitia, Landing Area of Tianwen-1 Mission. Remote Sens., 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13132601"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balme, M., and Greeley, R. (2006). Dust devils on Earth and Mars. Rev. Geophys., 44.","DOI":"10.1029\/2005RG000188"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greeley, R., Whelley, P.L., Arvidson, R.E., Cabrol, N.A., Foley, D.J., Franklin, B.J., Geissler, P.G., Golombek, M.P., Kuzmin, R.O., and Landis, G.A. (2006). Active dust devils in Gusev crater, Mars: Observations from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 111.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JE002743"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1717","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(1973)030<1717:AVSFLS>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"A vorticity source for large-scale dust devils and other comments on naturally occurring columnar vortices","volume":"30","author":"Maxworthy","year":"1973","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Richardson, M.I., Toigo, A.D., and Newman, C.E. (2007). PlanetWRF: A general purpose, local to global numerical model for planetary atmospheric and climate dynamics. J. Geophys. Res., 112.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JE002825"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"276","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2012.07.020","article-title":"The impact of resolution on the dynamics of the martian global atmosphere: Varying resolution studies with the MarsWRF GCM","volume":"221","author":"Toigo","year":"2012","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guo, X., Lawson, W.G., Richardson, M.I., and Toigo, A. (2009). Fitting the Viking lander surface pressure cycle with a Mars General Circulation Model. J. Geophys. Res., 114.","DOI":"10.1029\/2008JE003302"},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"306","article-title":"Dust activity over the Hellas basin of Mars during the period of southern spring equinox","volume":"311","author":"Chow","year":"2018","journal-title":"Icarus Int. J. Sol. Syst. Stud."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2018.07.020","article-title":"Dynamical processes of dust lifting in the northern mid-latitude region of Mars during the dust storm season","volume":"317","author":"Xiao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/j.icarus.2015.03.030","article-title":"The impact of surface dust source exhaustion on the martian dust cycle, dust storms and interannual variability, as simulated by the MarsWRF General Circulation Model","volume":"257","author":"Newman","year":"2015","journal-title":"Icarus"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3244","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(1998)055<3244:ASTTFD>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"A simple thermodynamical theory for dust devils","volume":"55","author":"Burkett","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greeley, R., Waller, D.A., Cabrol, N.A., Landis, G.A., Lemmon, M.T., Neakrase, L.D.V., Hoffer, M.P., Thompson, S.D., and Whelley, P.L. (2010). Gusev Crater, Mars: Observations of three dust devil seasons. J. Geophys. Res., 115.","DOI":"10.1029\/2010JE003608"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/9\/2117\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:03:02Z","timestamp":1760137382000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/9\/2117"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5]]}},"alternative-id":["rs14092117"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14092117","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]]}}}