PIA04572: Frosted Chasma Boreale Dunes
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows frost-covered sand dunes in Chasma Boreale in the early northern spring season on Mars. Dark spots, some of them with bright halos of re-precipitated frost, have formed as the dunes begin to defrost.
 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:  540 x 810 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04572.tif (418.7 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04572.jpg (46.08 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-390, 13 June 2003

This is a Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view of frost-covered sand dunes in Chasma Boreale in the early northern spring season. Dark spots, some of them with bright halos of re-precipitated frost, have formed as the dunes begin to defrost. Most of the frost is carbon dioxide which freezes out of the atmosphere during the cold martian polar winters. This picture is located near 84.7°N, 358.8°W, and is illuminated from the lower left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2003-06-16