Summer is on Its Way
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Summer is on Its Way
ESP_025916_2555  Science Theme: Seasonal Processes
These dark sand dunes in the North polar region, basking in the sunshine of late spring, have shed most of their seasonal layer of winter ice.

A few bright ice deposits remain sequestered in “cold traps” shadowed from the sun on the poleward-facing side of the dunes. Some bright patches of ice at the foot of the sunlit side of the dunes may be places where ice slumped to the foot of the dune creating a longer-lasting snow bank.

Written by: Candy Hansen  (28 March 2012)
 
Acquisition date
05 February 2012

Local Mars time
14:28

Latitude (centered)
75.517°

Longitude (East)
281.883°

Spacecraft altitude
318.0 km (197.6 miles)

Original image scale range
31.9 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~96 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel

Map projection
Polarstereographic

Emission angle
5.5°

Phase angle
51.7°

Solar incidence angle
56°, with the Sun about 34° above the horizon

Solar longitude
66.7°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  100°
Sub-solar azimuth:  320.8°
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   (1160MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (548MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (589MB)
non-map           (452MB)

IRB color
map projected  (307MB)
non-map           (416MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (307MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (292MB)

RGB color
non map           (415MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

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.