images

Detail in the south polar cap of Mars

by

Nasa/JPL/MSSS/Novapix

Reference

a-mar06-00271

Date

2006-10-15

This Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a 2.9 by 4.8 km (1.8 by 3 mi) area of the south polar residual cap as it appeared in mid-summer on 23 February 2000. The landscape of the south polar residual cap is dominated by layered, frozen carbon dioxide ("dry ice") that has been eroded into a variety of pits, troughs, buttes, and mesas. In summer, as carbon dioxide is subliming away, the scarps bounding the pits and mesas darken. The darkened slopes may indicate that small amounts of dust are present, mixed-in with the ice.