HiRISE | Dune Symmetry (ESP_016036

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Dune Symmetry
ESP_016036_1370 Science Theme: Aeolian Processes

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Dunes of sand-sized materials have been trapped on the floors of many Martian craters. This is one example, from a crater in Noachis Terra, west of the giant Hellas impact basin.

The dunes here are linear, thought to be due to shifting wind directions. In places, each dune is remarkably similar to adjacent dunes, including a reddish (or dust colored) band on northeast-facing slopes. Large angular boulders litter the floor between dunes.

The most extensive linear dune fields know in the Solar System are on Saturn's large moon Titan. Titan has a very different environment and composition, so at meter-scale resolution they probably are very different from Martian dunes.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (13 January 2010)

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Acquisition date:	28 December 2009	Local Mars time:	2:51 PM
Latitude (centered):	-42.660 degrees	Longitude (East):	38.023 degrees
Range to target site:	254.8 km (159.3 miles)	Original image scale range:	25.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~76 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	25 cm/pixel and North is up	Map projection:	EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:	6.7 degrees	Phase angle:	72.0 degrees
Solar incidence angle:	67 degrees, with the Sun about 23 degrees above the horizon	Solar longitude:	29.8 degrees, Northern Spring
For non-map projected products:
North azimuth:	96 degrees	Sub-solar azimuth:	49.0 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:	270 degrees	Sub solar azimuth:	222.7 degrees

NEARBY OBSERVATIONS

Dunes
Dunes
Transverse and Barchan Dune Field
Hellespontus-Noachis Region Intracrater Deposit
Noachis Region Intercrater Terrain
Gullies

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All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Postscript
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.