Planet Four Talk

Angustus Labyrinthus (Inca City)

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Hopefully the link will work for you. It should take you to my Angustus Labyrinthus folder on Dropbox. (PDF).

    Very long, but mainly images two or three to a page. They take some time to download on my connection.

    Enjoy the tour !! ** 😛 ** https://www.dropbox.com/sh/obn0bh8xo7pllwu/EjMj21fXky

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  • angi60 by angi60

    Well done Kitharode! An amazing project/resource. I'm sure I'm not alone in finding it difficult to see the 'bigger' picture of the various regions being studied, so something like this is extremely useful. It's fascinating how spiders and mites can exist in the same areas, and I wonder why (I know there's an ongoing discussion about that). I had no idea there were 'dykes' like that - I can see why they call it Inca City. I'm sure many people will find this very interesting (myself included!) I'm pleased you have a Kitharode Way - I think you've earned it after all that work 😃 Thank you for enlightening me!

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Thank you for reading it! The 'dikes' have an 'i' in the sources I used so I stuck with that. Well spotted though.

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    From earlier discussions we've learnt that slope can be a big factor in the direction of fans. This seems to be very much the case in Inca City.

    Now although there must be some wind in the area (evidenced by a number of multi-directional fans) it does not give the impression of being very strong wind, at least during the venting season. However, the shape of the city walls are very suggestive of strong and/or sustained winds.

    I know the science team are working on this problem at the local scale, but I would welcome any info/ideas that are out there concerning winds in the Inca City area. Cheers.

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  • Portyankina by Portyankina scientist

    Hi!

    There is very few data about winds on Mars in general and in polar areas especially. We only have data from landers and from some rare could tracking. Everything else that we know come from atmospheric modeling but existing general circulation models are the least good in polar regions. This leaves us with more guessing than true knowledge.
    For Inca City location generally predominant must be polar vortex with direction dependent on the season. However, more localized winds must be dominant during high sublimation time - i.e. at venting too. I am personally unaware of any km-scale model run for exact topography of Inca City. It theoretically should show katabatic winds downslope when slopes are ice covered. These winds are not strong and well can create cell-circulation with upward flux in the centers of the "squares". Yet, we are lacking simulations here.

    Anya

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  • p.titchin by p.titchin in response to Kitharode's comment.

    Hi Kith' as I hinted in our previous threads, my gut feeling is that katabatic winds are heavily involved in the local effects. You would expect them to occur in lumpy terrain like Inca City, and they produce very localized effects.They are definitely prime candidates! To add to the confusion, I don't know how much warmer gas is vented during venting occurrences, and how much warmer it is than the ambient temperature, but over an area with numerous fans, it may be that enough warm gas rises to cause'anabatic windsto occur. These tend to be circulatory. These musings are what have been 'be-musing' me recently. As usual, 'more questions than answers'!
    ~Pete

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Anya, Pete. Thanks muchly. At least I've got something to play with now. Polar vortex sounds like a google subject. Cell-circulation, upward flux, circulatory, were all in my mind and it's good to see them mentioned. Hadn't got 'anabatic' on the list so that's a help. Temperature is gonna be tricky to deal with at these scales methinks, but again it's an angle to consider.

    Thanks y'all. If anything else come blowing your way do please let me know. 😃

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  • p.titchin by p.titchin in response to Kitharode's comment.

    gut feeling again, but I think down slope fans are likely to be katabatic, localized rotational fans, (seem to occur where the slopes have a high density of vents) can be explained by anabatic. We need those temperatures!
    ~pete

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  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator

    Hi All,

    This newly posted blog might be of interest.

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

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