10 March 2004
This arrow in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image points to an active dust devil observed in Isidis Planitia near 18.3°N, 268.9°W. The columnar shadow of the dust devil is visible, as is a pencil-thin (at least, pencil-thin at the scale of the image) line created by the vortex as it disrupted the dust that coats the surface. The streak indicates that the dust devil had already traveled more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles), over craters, large ripples, and ridges, before the MOC took this picture. The dust devil was moving from the northeast (upper right) toward the southwest (lower left). Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.