Post contributed by Dr. Matthew Chojnacki, Planetary Science Institute, Lakewood, CO, USA.
Megaripples, which are intermediate-scale aeolian bedforms as compared with ripples and dunes, have been studied extensively on Mars and thought to be largely inactive landforms from past climates. On Earth, “megaripples” can be 30 cm to tens of meters in spacing with an abundant coarse sand population resulting in reduced migration except for very strong storm events. We mapped the extensive sand seas across the north pole of Mars for the presence of Martian megaripples (Image 1).
Image 1. HiRISE perspective view of north polar dune fields with active megaripples (arrows). Megaripple activity is most evident on the upwind edges of dune fields and in some cases within inter-erg areas. Clusters of contiguous megaripple fields often flanked by ripples and dunes were most common, while occasionally occurrences of mobile megaripple trains atop of bedrock were observed. All images and associated digital terrain models can be accessed at: https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.
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