Released 15 October 2003

The small Tharsis volcano called Biblis Patera is nearly lost amongst its gigantic neighbors. With a height of less than 10,000 feet, it is even dwarfed by many volcanoes on Earth. The gaping caldera of Biblis Patera shows evidence for multiple episodes of collapse, producing the concentric topography seen in the image. Several slope streaks are visible, indicators of a more recent and much smaller form of collapse: avalanches of the dust that thickly mantles the terrain.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 2.3, Longitude 236.4 East (123.6 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.