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This image shows many small craters over a larger degraded one in the northern lowlands. These small craters are smoother and shallower than their counterparts closer to the equator.

Scientists believe this difference is a result of impact into a region with subsurface ice, which sublimates when exposed to the Martian atmosphere. This causes the crater to gradually expand and flatten after impact.

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.