Nili Patera
Spines
March 15, 2013Dunes in the spring
March 22, 2013
A piece of Mars: Nili Patera on Mars is an ancient volcano. Some of the old volcanic material has been blown into rather striking sand dunes. It is the first place where dunes were conclusively identified as actively moving. Here’s a closeup of one of them — the steep slip face on the downwind side indicates these dunes are moving to the lower left. This dune migrates about a meter every year. (HiRISE ESP_030210_1890, NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
2 Comments
This one is a beauty. I love the crisp details on the dunes. This is remarkable.
Nili Patera is always a winner. I’d use it more often but I want to show the range of what Mars has. Maybe I’ll focus on yardangs next.