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PIA18634: Frosty Gullies
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from image ESP_037137_1360
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA18634.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA18634.jpg (1.386 MB)

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HiRISE monitoring has shown that gully formation on Mars occurs in winter and early spring in times and places with frost on the ground.

This image was acquired in late winter, and the frost or ice (visible as white areas) persists only on the south-facing slopes that have received little direct sunlight to this date.

Ridges between gully alcoves that get more light are reddish and largely free of frost. New gully activity isn't obvious in this image. There may be a delicate balance: in some years the frost (up to approximately 1 meter thick) will trigger avalanches, but not in most years. This frost consist of mostly carbon dioxide (dry ice), but includes small amounts of water ice as well.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2014-07-30