Plains in North Sinus Meridiani
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Plains in North Sinus Meridiani
PSP_005370_1845  Science Theme: Other
This observation shows plains speckled with craters in north Sinus Meridiani, a dark albedo feature.

Several of the craters have wind streaks off their southwest rims. This indicates that recently, the wind has been dominantly coming from the northeast in this region. As the wind blows, it erodes material off the crater rims, and this material can be deposited downwind, as seen here in the form of streaks. Eventually the craters’ rims will be completely eroded and just faint circular features will remain.

There is a bright mesa at the top of the image that also has a very prominent wind streak. The cutout (less than 5 kilometers across ) shows the bright mesa located at the top right of the image. Part of the wind streak is visible in the lower left.

In enhanced color, part of the streak appears redder than its surroundings. Differences in color result from differences in composition and/or particle sizes. The western edge of the mesa appears in this color product to be tinted red, similar in tone to the mesa’s wind streak.

Written by: Kelly Kolb  (14 November 2007)
 
Acquisition date
18 September 2007

Local Mars time
14:08

Latitude (centered)
4.595°

Longitude (East)
-0.967°

Spacecraft altitude
273.1 km (169.8 miles)

Original image scale range
28.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~85 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
16.2°

Phase angle
53.3°

Solar incidence angle
39°, with the Sun about 51° above the horizon

Solar longitude
316.2°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  329.5°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (1394MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (581MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (567MB)
non-map           (753MB)

IRB color
map projected  (228MB)
non-map           (596MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (333MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (348MB)

RGB color
non map           (562MB)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
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.