Defrosting Dunes in Kaiser Crater
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Defrosting Dunes in Kaiser Crater
ESP_072042_1330  Science Theme: Mass Wasting Processes
The dark sand dune at the center of this observation is covered in a blanket of white seasonal ice in the winter. In this Martian springtime image, the western slope of the dune is partly defrosted.

Bright patches of frost (white in enhanced color) are clearly visible and are made up of water and carbon dioxide ices. Dark streaks of sand have flowed down the dune’s slope that sometimes covers the frost. These flows are caused by the rapid transformation of the frost from ice to gas as the sun heats the dune in the spring.

We can also see how these flows are diverted by the ripples on the dune. (The width of the cutout is around 520 meters.)

Written by: Susan J. Conway (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (15 March 2022)
 
Acquisition date
08 December 2021

Local Mars time
15:52

Latitude (centered)
-46.715°

Longitude (East)
20.136°

Spacecraft altitude
251.4 km (156.3 miles)

Original image scale range
50.5 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~151 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
5.2°

Phase angle
78.1°

Solar incidence angle
82°, with the Sun about 8° above the horizon

Solar longitude
139.0°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  41.1°
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IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
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Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
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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:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
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. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.