Led by Caltech planetary geologist Mathieu Lapôtre, the new research confirmed the existence of this third type of “bedform,” the term for sedimentary structures shaped by air or water flow, with close-up ground observations of the Bagnold Dune Field provided by the Curiosity rover. Satellite imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was also used to study the ripples from an orbital vantage point.
“The meter-scale ripples are observed from orbit all over the planet, across a wide range of latitudes and elevations,” Lapôtre told me via email. “However at the Bagnold Dunes, we were able to observe, for the first time, that two scales of active ripples (decimeter and meter-scale) were superimposed on top of dunes.”

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