PIA08704: Springtime Dunes
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows part of a dune field in Chasma Boreale, the large north polar trough on Mars. The bright material covering the dunes is frozen carbon dioxide.
 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 2312 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1565  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA08704.tif (1.935 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA08704.jpg (433.1 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

25 August 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows part of a dune field in Chasma Boreale, the large north polar trough. The bright material covering the dunes is frozen carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide frost accumulates during the northern autumn and winter, and sublimes away (turns directly from solid to gas) during the spring and summer. The image was acquired near the end of the northern spring. The dark areas in this image are places where the frost sublimed away, revealing the coarse dark sand of the dunes.

Location near: 84.5°N, 19.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-08-25