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Millions of years of alternating seasons have created the north polar cap. Ice is laid down during the winter and dust coats the ice in summer. The ice/dust cycle creates layers as the cap grows. The layers are revealed on the side of troughs that are eroded down into the cap.

Orbit Number: 77621 Latitude: 85.4338 Longitude: 173.148 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-06-14 15:23

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 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.