25 December 2004
For 25 December, the MOC team thought that a visit to a north polar site would be timely. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows, at about 1.5 meters per pixel (~5 feet per pixel) resolution, a view of the north polar ice cap of Mars. That the material includes water ice has been known since the mid-1970s, when Viking orbiter observations confirmed that the cap gives off water vapor in the summertime, as the ice is subliming away. The surface shown here, observed by MOC during northern summer in November 2004, is pitted and somewhat grooved. Dark material on pit floors might be trapped, windblown dust. The picture covers an area about 1 km (0.62 mi) across, and is located near 86.8°N, 293.1°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.