High winds?

[kingwinner]

1) "The surface features of Mars include active volcanoes, dust storms, and high winds."

What is the usual meaning of high winds? high altitude? high speed?

I hope someone who knows this can tell me, thank you!

 

[Light]

1) "The surface features of Mars include active volcanoes, dust storms, and high winds."

What is the usual meaning of high winds? high altitude? high speed?

I hope someone who knows this can tell me, thank you!

The term "high winds" means high-speed surface winds. They are what cause the dust storms and have been observed by orbiting probes and both surface rovers.

 

[Ophiolite]

The high winds are high, even by Earthly standards. Consider the following:

When Mariner 9 first entered a Martian orbit in the fall of 1971, a planet-wide dust storm was raging throughout the entire planet. This dust storm started 2 months earlier and was detected from Earth-based observations. From telescope, the dust storm appeared as a yellowish cloud that rapidly covered the entire planet. This was one of the earliest evidence that aeolian processes are operating on Martian surface. This is probably the only geological process that remains active even today. Even though Mars has a smaller surface gravity, because of the low atmospheric pressure, very large wind speeds are necessary to move dust particles and transport them across the planet. Wind speed in the Martian atmosphere was measured to exceed 200 km/hr (125 miles/hr) typically. Gusts can often reach 500 to 600 km/hr (300-375 miles/hr). Wind speed at the surface during a dust storm as measured by the Viking landers is about 30 m/sec (67.5 miles/hr).

Source:http://hercules.geology.uiuc.edu/~hsui/classes/geo116/lectures/mars2.html

 

[Facial]

How is that every planet with a substantial atmosphere except for earth has ultra-high wind speed? Venus has high-altitude equatorial superwind, mars has super dust storms, and just about every single one of the gas giants has belching storms in the hundreds mi/hr range.

Is it because of the ocean?

 

[Light]

How is that every planet with a substantial atmosphere except for earth has ultra-high wind speed? Venus has high-altitude equatorial superwind, mars has super dust storms, and just about every single one of the gas giants has belching storms in the hundreds mi/hr range.

Is it because of the ocean?

Yes, that's the major reason. The oceans as as huge temperature moderators and don't allow the tremendous temperature differentials to exist that you find on the other planets. Weather - and the winds - are heat driven and the greater the difference in temperatures between areas the stonger and more violent the weather/winds will be.

 

[Ophiolite]

Remember that the jet stream on Earth flies along at a hundred miles an hour plus much of the time. Surface winds tend to be lower because of frictional resistance from the ground.

 

[Light]

Remember that the jet stream on Earth flies along at a hundred miles an hour plus much of the time. Surface winds tend to be lower because of frictional resistance from the ground.

Yes, that's true.

And readers should also keep in mind that the jet stream is a very high-altitude affair and it's influence on local weather conditions is pretty much limited to allowing or retarding the movement of masses of cold, polar air heading southward.

And don't take that to mean that it's not important - because it certainly is! The point is that it's high-velocity winds have no direct effect themselves on surface conditions as do the low, surface winds.

 

[leopold]

1) "The surface features of Mars include active volcanoes, dust storms, and high winds."

What is the usual meaning of high winds? high altitude? high speed?

I hope someone who knows this can tell me, thank you!

in my opinion
tornados are high winds
the jet stream is high altitude winds

so on mars they would be talking about surface winds
if they meant otherwise they would have said so
unless of course they wanted to deliberately mislead you

 

[superluminal]

1) "The surface features of Mars include active volcanoes, dust storms, and high winds."

Woah there pardner. Active volcanoes? There is as yet no solid evidence of currently active volcanoes on Mars.