"Sand ripples" refers to the wavy patterns or small ridges that form on the surface of sandy areas, usually caused by the movement of wind or water.
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«Earth and Mars both have big sand dunes and
small sand ripples, but on Mars, there's something in between that we don't have on Earth,» said Mathieu Lapotre, a graduate student at Caltech in Pasadena, California, and science team collaborator for the Curiosity mission.
A wind, or the wash along a shore, must be prolonged and continuous from one direction in order
for sand ripples to form.
«The frequency of any wave formation is determined by the overall strength of the wind or, in the case
of sand ripples underwater, by the strength of the waves.
«That is not like impact ripples, but it is just
like sand ripples that form under moving water on Earth.
Some of the wind -
sculpted sand ripples on Mars are a type not seen on Earth, and their relationship to the thin Martian atmosphere today provides new clues about the atmosphere's history.
«Earth and Mars both have big sand dunes and
small sand ripples, but on Mars, there's something in between that we don't have on Earth,» Lapotre said.
Sand ripples, however, do not have easily discernible periods (they do have periods, but they are on the order of days).
In the Great Lakes region,
sand ripples are best seen or felt underwater.
An example might be as follows: we have not yet seen
any sand ripples at the place the rover landed, but there are large sand dunes only a few kilometres away.
Researchers said that the type of wind - sculpted ripples on the Red Planet has not been seen on Earth and the link of
the sand ripples to the thin Martian atmosphere seen today offers clues about the history of the planet's atmosphere.