GI Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems GI Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst. 2193-0864 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/gi-1-209-2012 Observing desert dust devils with a pressure logger Lorenz R. D. 1 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA 04 12 2012 1 2 209 220 Copyright: © 2012 R. D. Lorenz 2012 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/1/209/2012/gi-1-209-2012.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/1/209/2012/gi-1-209-2012.pdf

A commercial pressure logger has been adapted for long-term field use. Its flash memory affords the large data volume to allow months of pressure measurements to be acquired at the rapid cadence (>1 Hz) required to detect dust devils, small dust-laden convective vortices observed in arid regions. The power consumption of the unit is studied and battery and solar/battery options evaluated for long-term observations. A two-month long field test is described, and several example dust devil encounters are examined. In addition, a periodic (~20 min) convective signature is observed, and some lessons in operations and correction of data for temperature drift are reported. The unit shows promise for obtaining good statistics on dust devil pressure drops, to permit comparison with Mars lander measurements, and for array measurements.

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