Frosted Ground in the Southern Hemisphere in Late Fall
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Frosted Ground in the Southern Hemisphere in Late Fall
ESP_026388_1280  Science Theme: Mass Wasting Processes
This image was acquired within two weeks of the winter solstice, when the subsolar latitude is at its northernmost position.

At this location and time, the Sun barely peeks over the horizon in the mid-afternoon when MRO passes overhead, and carbon dioxide frost is building up on most of the surface.

In enhanced color, the frost appears blue. Slopes that face north receive more heat from the sun and appear reddish, indicating less frost is present. There may also be a small amount of water frost on the surface.

Mars is very different from Earth in that its main atmospheric component can condense onto the surface. The nitrogen that dominates Earth’s atmosphere never condenses onto the surface, although nitrogen in the atmospheres of frigid Triton and Pluto does form surface frost and ice.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (audio by Tre Gibbs)  (9 May 2012)
 
Acquisition date
13 March 2012

Local Mars time
15:23

Latitude (centered)
-51.849°

Longitude (East)
17.210°

Spacecraft altitude
251.7 km (156.5 miles)

Original image scale range
100.7 cm/pixel (with 4 x 4 binning) so objects ~302 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
100 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.3°

Phase angle
89.0°

Solar incidence angle
89°, with the Sun about 1° above the horizon

Solar longitude
82.7°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  51.8°
JPEG
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Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
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RGB color
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map-projected   (144MB)

IRB color
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JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (84MB)
non-map           (85MB)

IRB color
map projected  (45MB)
non-map           (98MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (153MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (139MB)

RGB color
non map           (94MB)
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.