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PIA22897: Slope Streaking
This image acquired on September 30, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows slope streaks which are small avalanches of dust and sand from the hillsides.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE 
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL 
 Other  
Information: 		 Other products from ESP_057080_1915 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA22897.tif (5.191 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA22897.jpg (859.4 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

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We have been monitoring the slope streaks on this hill for several years. There are definitive changes between this September 2018 image and a previous one in December 2016. Earlier streaks have since faded and new, darker streaks are visible. These streaks are tens of meters wide.

These features are small avalanches of dust and sand from the hillsides. The surface dust is lighter in color, but when it avalanches away, it reveals underlying larger-grained sand particles that are much darker. Over time, the dust slowly rains down from the atmosphere and the streaks fade as they are coated with dust.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 55.6 centimeters (21.9 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 167 centimeters (65.7 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2018-12-11