Public domain
A Dust Devil is Born
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Dust devils form by rising and rotating warm air pockets. Air near the soil surface can become heated by contact with the warmer ground during the day. The warm air is less dense and rises through the cooler air above it. As additional air moves inward along the surface to replace the rising pocket, it begins to rotate driven by Coriolis forces, and forms a vortex of spinning air.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionCredit lineA Dust Devil is Born. NASA/JPL, 2021-02-26. Public domain. ID: PIA24465.
