PIA03944: Arabian Dunes
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a field of low-albedo (dark) barchan sand dunes in a crater located in western Arabia Terra on Mars. Small dunes like these are common in the craters of western Arabia Terra.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) 
 Product Size:  836 x 1009 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1119  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03944.tif (844.7 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03944.jpg (76.84 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

11 June 2005
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a field of low-albedo (dark) barchan sand dunes in a crater located in western Arabia Terra. Small dunes like these are common in the craters of western Arabia Terra and they are often the source of finer, dark sediment that forms windstreaks further downwind. The steepest slopes on the dunes, their slipfaces, are pointed toward the southeast (lower right), indicating that the dominant winds in this location come from the opposite direction.

Location near: 6.4°N, 346.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Autumn

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2005-06-11