Look at the "Christmas" Mars: frost and frost cover the Red Planet

Ahead of Christmas and the start of the 37th Martian year (26 December 2022) European Space Agency

published a satellite image of two craters,covered with "winter frost". The landscape, which resembles Christmas photos, was actually taken in mid-May 2022 near the planet's south pole. At this time, spring was beginning in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet.

Impact craters near the south pole of Mars. Image: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

In the picture you can see two large drumscrater, inside which alternate layers of ice and small sediments. These "polar layered deposits" are also visible in great detail in the rusty red ridge connecting the two craters. Throughout the image, dark dunes and dune fields are visible, in places covered with a thin layer of frost. The dune fields create sharp ridges that run parallel to the prevailing wind direction.

Individual dark spots in the image are associated withprocess characteristic of the polar regions. Jets of carbon dioxide produced by the sublimation of ice into gas break through the ice, throwing out a fountain of dark dust that settles in these round spots.

Enlarged view of the crater. To the left of the “ridge” connecting the two craters, circles formed by the sublimation of carbon dioxide are visible. Image: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The researchers note that during the seasonalCycle in winter, carbon dioxide ice is deposited at the poles of Mars, which sublimates in spring. From 12 to 16% of the planet's atmosphere "falls out" at the poles every winter. The release of gas in the spring increases atmospheric pressure and leads to the formation of strong winds. This continuous process ensures the exchange of substances between the surface and the atmosphere during the Martian year.

The image was taken with a camerahigh-resolution stereo images installed aboard the Mars Express spacecraft. This is an automatic interplanetary station developed by ESA that explores the Red Planet from orbit.

Enlarged view of the crater. Image: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

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