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Triton's plumes - The dust devil hypothesisTriton's plumes are narrow columns 10 km in height, with tails extending horizontally for distances over 100 km. This structure suggests that the plumes are an atmospheric rather than a surface phenomenon. The closest terrestrial analogs may be dust devils, which are atmospheric vortices originating in the unstable layer close to the ground. Since Triton has such a low surface pressure, extremely unstable layers could develop during the day. Patches of unfrosted ground near the subsolar point could act as sites for dust devil formation because they heat up relative to the surrounding nitrogen frost. The resulting convection would warm the atmosphere to temperatures of 48 k or higher, as observed by the Voyager radio science team. Assuming that velocity scales as the square root of temperature difference times the height of the mixed layer, a velocity of 20 m/sec is derived for the strongest dust devils on Triton. Winds of this speed could raise particles provided they are a factor of 1000 to 10,000 less cohesive than those on earth.
Document ID
19910027598
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Ingersoll, Andrew P.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Tryka, Kimberly A.
(California Institute of Technology Pasadena, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
October 19, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Science
Volume: 250
ISSN: 0036-8075
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
91A12221
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-58
PROJECT: PROJECT VOYAGER
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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