Fading Ice over Seven Mars Years
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Fading Ice over Seven Mars Years
ESP_087476_2240  Science Theme: Impact Processes
This is the latest of a series of images to monitor ice exposed by a new impact crater that formed before 2012. The bright and relatively blue patches have continuously shrunk over time, and today there is only a small area inside the crater that is slightly brighter and bluer than the typical dusty Mars surface.

A closeup shows three prior images, all acquired in the same season (middle northern spring). Note that HiRISE images are stretched according to the scene brightness range, so the earlier images have much darker surrounding areas because the exposed ice is so bright.

The ice fades over time as the water ice sublimates into the atmosphere during warm seasons, aided by dust that settles out from the atmosphere to cover the ice. There must still be abundant clean water ice throughout this area only centimeters or inches below the dust cover.

Written by: Alfred McEwen  (7 July 2025)
 
Acquisition date
25 March 2025

Local Mars time
15:03

Latitude (centered)
43.898°

Longitude (East)
204.354°

Spacecraft altitude
302.6 km (188.0 miles)

Original image scale range
30.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~91 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
2.6°

Phase angle
41.0°

Solar incidence angle
44°, with the Sun about 46° above the horizon

Solar longitude
61.3°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  350.6°
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RGB color
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NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
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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.