Mars dust twister cleaning surface

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the Red Planet since 2006, captured some martian spring cleaning February 16 in the Amazonis Planitia region on the northern part of the planet.

As the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera looked on, a spinning column of air some 30 yards or meters in diameter lofted freshly deposited soil more than a half-mile (800m) in the air.
Like on Earth, such dust devils form when heated air near the surface rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler air above it and begins to rotate if conditions are just right.

NASA released the above image, which covers an area 2,113 feet (644m) across, March 7.

More images of the same phenomena:

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