Abstract
The highly-skewed diameter and pressure drop distributions of dust devils on Earth and Mars are noted, and challenges of presenting and comparing different types of observations are discussed. The widely-held view that Martian dust devils are larger than Earth’s is critically assessed: the question is confounded somewhat by different observation techniques, but some indication of a ${\sim} 3\mathrm{x}$ larger population on Mars is determined. The largest and most intense (in a relative pressure sense) devils recorded are on Mars, although the largest reported number density is on Earth. The difficulties of concepts used in the literature of ‘average’ diameter, pressure cross section, and area fraction are noted in the context of estimating population-integral effects such as dust lifting.
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