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Image: Martian frozen sand dunes thawing in Spring

Posted Mar 03, 2008 at 04:48AM by Ryan A. Listed in: News, NASA, Celestial Bodies Tags: Mars, NASA, carbon dioxide
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Image: Martian frozen sand dunes thawing in Spring - Image 1 


Wondering what sort of thing you're seeing above? Well, for a start, that is something out of this world, literally. It is actually a snapshot of sand dunes in Mars getting defrosted. The image is a part of the planet's northern hemisphere.

During these times, Mars' northern hemisphere enters the season of Spring. As a result, frozen sand dunes are starting to thaw. But the word "thaw" here is not similar as to the one we know here on Earth.

The carbon dioxide and water ice actually sublime in the thin atmosphere directly to gas. Across the pole, there are thinner regions which thaw first revealing sand whose darkness soaks in sunlight and speeds up the process.

During Spring, the said process may also be accompanied by sandy jets exploding through the thinning ice.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA provided the following description:


By summer, spots will expand to encompass the entire dunes. The Martian North Pole is ringed by many similar fields of barchan sand dunes, whose strange, smooth arcs are shaped by persistent Martian winds.


That's about it for sand dunes of Mars. Keep checking back here at QJ.NET for more out-of-this world revelation and images.

[Via NASA] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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