Analysis of Dune Ripple Patterns on the Surface of Earth and Mars to determine Local Sand Transport Conditions: A Machine Learning application.

The contemporary surface of Mars is shaped by wind driven sand transport, yet our knowledge of these processes is limited. Sand ripples are small bedform features commonly found superimposing dunes on the surface of Earth and Mars, perpendicular to the local wind direction. The mechanism behind the formation of Mars’ ripples is currently highly debated: either they are formed by saltation like Earth’s aeolian impact ripples, or they are formed by hydrodynamic instability such as subaqueous ripples. Investigating ripple pattern dynamics across the surface of Mars would improve our knowledge of local wind regimes and sand transport conditions, such as whether the dune shape and size affect wind flow, thus ripple patterns.

To enable efficient surveying of large areas of the surface of Mars, an automated mapping method has been developed to identify and categorise different classes of ripple patterns. For this project, ripple patterns found on barchan dunes across 40 HiRISE sites in the north polar region of Mars have been classified and segmented. The same mapping method will be applied to Earth’s aeolian impact ripples and subaqueous ripples to compare their morphology and dynamics with those on Mars. By doing so, we hope to determine the mechanism behind the formation of Martian ripples and more broadly enhance our understanding of sand transport conditions on the red planet.