Every year seasonal carbon dioxide ice, known to us as “dry ice,” covers the poles of Mars. In the South Polar region this ice is translucent, allowing sunlight to pass through and warm the surface below. The ice then sublimes (evaporates) from the bottom of the ice layer, and carves channels in the surface.

The channels take on many forms. In the cutout the gas from the dry ice has etched wide shallow channels. This region is relatively flat, which may be the reason these channels have a different morphology than the “spiders” seen in more hummocky terrain.

This caption was featured in a December 2007 AGU presentation “Spring at the South Pole of Mars.”



Written by: Candy Hansen  (12 December 2007)