Field Investigation of Terrestrial Wind Streaks
- Aviv Lee Cohen-Zada
, - Dan G Blumberg
, - Shimrit Maman

Aviv Lee Cohen-Zada

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Corresponding Author:avivlee@post.bgu.ac.il
Author ProfileAbstract
Planetary wind streaks are common aeolian features that have been
studied primarily on Mars, Venus and Earth for several decades. They
appear in imagery as distinctive albedo patterns on planetary surfaces.
Most studies used remote sensing observations as the key means of
investigation and lacked field validation. Although wind streaks are
known on Earth, they have barley been studied in the field, with merely
six published field investigations in the last forty years that were
identified. This study presents an in-depth field study at eight sites
in the Mojave and Atacama deserts with wind streaks conducted during
three campaigns. The purpose was to investigate the spatial variability
of surface properties responsible for the wind streak visibility in
remotely sensed imagery in a way that will help better understand
streaks on other planets. Data obtained from the surface includes field
and satellite spectroscopy, and sampling for x-ray diffraction and
particle size distribution analyses. The results show that for each wind
streak, variations in the same surface settings lead to different
appearances, even if the mineralogical and lithological settings of the
sites are similar. Generally, wind streaks on Earth are composed of fine
to medium sand particles, comparable to grain sizes observed in dark
Martian wind streaks. The lack of finer fractions indicates on an active
erosional environment. This supports previous studies suggesting that
Earth wind streaks are likely to be presently active and are aligned in
accordance to the modern prevailing winds.