Question?

Even on earth, jet stream can go over 200mph according to websites.
I was under the impression that 300mph winds were rather common, but perhaps
they are during storm only. And much less damping affect since upper
atmosphere is thin and so close to ground than earth.



"David Knisely" wrote in message
...
onegod wrote:

With 300mph winds and space suit, I doubt you can hear 10' though of
course
they will be connected by radio.

Well, I'm afraid that 300 mph is probably a little on the high side for
Mars.
The fastest wind gust speed ever recorded on Mars (during a global dust
storm from the Viking-1 lander) was on the order of 30 meters per second
(about 67 mph), and dust storm motion has been measured at around 32
meters
per second (72 mph). While there may be wind speeds which exceed this, it
is
fairly probable that the maximum wind speed on Mars is something less than
100
mph. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

From Ody:

And the propagation speed! How fast
would you have to go to create a sonic
boom in the conditions prevailing on the
Martian altitude datum?

Well, considering the atmospheric density at Martian datum is equivalent
to around 120,000 feet on Earth, would not the speed of sound be
diminished accordingly, to around 610 mph? Here's a coupla more neat
sites-

www.planetary.org/learn/MarsMic/MarsMic.html
http://css.ca/marsaviation.htm

oc

onegod wrote:

Even on earth, jet stream can go over 200mph according to websites.
I was under the impression that 300mph winds were rather common, but perhaps
they are during storm only. And much less damping affect since upper
atmosphere is thin and so close to ground than earth.

Well, the 300 mph figure probably came from an old source estimate, as for a
while we didn't know exactly how fine the Martian dust was (ie: it took a lot
of wind to raise coarse-grained dust and not much to raise fine dust). It
ended up taking a lot less wind speed to raise and move the finer dust of Mars
needed for a dust storm, so once we got surface measurements, it was clear
that the high wind speed estimates made earlier were way too high. Even at
the heights of a major dust storm, the wind speeds are unlikely to
significantly exceed 100 mph. With the much lower solar insolation, it is
unlikely even the Martian jet streams are much faster than this. Clear skies
to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi oc We seem to have recieved weather information daily from the
Viking 2 lander(1980) and the Viking 1 (1982) wind speed of 20mph were
common. Have read oc dust storms of 200 mph on Mars,but don't believe
it. As you know my thinking is anyone can write a book. Changes
in temp. get our air moving,and Mars having such a big temp. change from
night and day light,this must be what gives Mars atmosphere its motion.
I even have a thought that the sand,and dust storms are low and kind of
skips along close to Mars surface. My reason for this thought is close
to the surface Mars might have more atmospheric density to add some
bouyancy to the fine dust particles. Bert PS Maybe sand and dust
could be said to be surfing

Even in earth, fine dust from major euruptions to go to high atmosphere and
can cause ice age.

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message
...
Hi oc We seem to have recieved weather information daily from the
Viking 2 lander(1980) and the Viking 1 (1982) wind speed of 20mph were
common. Have read oc dust storms of 200 mph on Mars,but don't believe
it. As you know my thinking is anyone can write a book. Changes
in temp. get our air moving,and Mars having such a big temp. change from
night and day light,this must be what gives Mars atmosphere its motion.
I even have a thought that the sand,and dust storms are low and kind of
skips along close to Mars surface. My reason for this thought is close
to the surface Mars might have more atmospheric density to add some
bouyancy to the fine dust particles. Bert PS Maybe sand and dust
could be said to be surfing