posted on Jan, 28 2013 @ 03:38 PM
Check out this beautiful view of the sand dunes in the north polar region of Mars captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:
The area covered in each of the five panels is about 0.8 mile (1.3 kilometers) wide.
The progression begins at left (Panel A) in early spring, when the ground is covered by a seasonal layer of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) about 2 feet
thick. As spring progresses the ice cracks (Panel B), releasing dark sand from the dune below. When pressurized gas trapped below the ice layer is
released, it carries along sand and dust to the top of the ice layer, where it is dropped in fan-shaped deposits downhill and downwind (panels C and
D). The final panel shows more and more of the dark dunes as the overlying layer of seasonal ice evaporates back into the atmosphere.
Even if it's in false colors, the changes are clearly visible and are very impressive!
...And no, these dark streaks are not trees!!