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This VIS image shows several dark streaks near the summit of Alba Mons. Similar large, dark streaks are found on all the Tharsis volcanoes. This type of dark streak does not form due to surface winds flowing around topographic features like craters. Instead these streaks seem to form from in response to large slope winds blowing over the volcano. Such winds are called orographic winds, and are caused by air mass movement around mountains.

Orbit Number: 93873 Latitude: 41.5398 Longitude: 251.186 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-02-11 20:09

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.