Cataracts in Kasei Valles
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Cataracts in Kasei Valles
PSP_003513_2055  Science Theme: Fluvial Processes
Obviously these are not the kind of cataracts that can develop in the lenses of your eyes, but large erosional scallops that form in river channels, like the Niagara Falls draining the Great Lakes of North America.

Cataracts are large landforms, and this oblique image covers only a small area of the innermost channel. The ridged material on the channel floor may be a lava flow that followed this channel after it was initially carved by giant floods of water.



Written by: Alfred McEwen  (7 August 2017)

This is a stereo pair with PSP_002814_2055.
 
Acquisition date
27 April 2007

Local Mars time
15:36

Latitude (centered)
25.069°

Longitude (East)
298.576°

Spacecraft altitude
283.0 km (175.9 miles)

Original image scale range
32.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~97 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
28.8°

Phase angle
44.0°

Solar incidence angle
68°, with the Sun about 22° above the horizon

Solar longitude
226.9°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  95°
Sub-solar azimuth:  327.2°
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   (1697MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (831MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (748MB)
non-map           (687MB)

IRB color
map projected  (270MB)
non-map           (587MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (458MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (454MB)

RGB color
non map           (572MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL (DTM)
DTM details page

BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)

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.