wind streak
March 16, 2016
A Piece of Mars: Normally I post in color, but sometimes you need to back out to the grayscale images to see the big awesome things. This scene is 4.6×2.6 km (2.8×1.6 mi); the conical hill is 1.4 km (0.89 […]
October 26, 2015
A Piece of Mars: This 3.2×1.8 km (2×1.1 mi) area shows terrain covered by bright dust. Dark stripes are areas where wind has lightly scoured the surface, revealing the dark material beneath. Faint bright lines criss-cross the surface – these […]
November 7, 2014
A piece of Mars: This 600×450 m (1969×1476 ft) polar scene shows sinuous channels 2-8 m (7-26 ft) wide carved out of ice-filled and ice-covered terrain. They’re not formed by flowing water, but instead by flowing gas that gets trapped […]
September 15, 2014
A piece of Mars: Wind flow on Mars can be quite dramatic. Here, a single wind-sculpted hill stands 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide and 600 m (1970 ft) high (color shows elevation). That sounds big, but vastly larger is the […]
December 27, 2013
A piece of Mars: A single dune sits on the surface of Mars, not too far from the north pole. It’s early spring, but this far north the dune is still covered in white CO2 frost (as well as a […]
November 18, 2013
A piece of Mars: Is it a comet? With Comet ISON in the news these days it’s hard to tell. No, this is a brand-new meteorite impact on the surface of Mars. The impactor hit the ground, blasted through a […]
July 29, 2013
A piece of Mars: This image is way up high on the Tharsis Montes on Mars, at an elevation of 5900 m (19,350 ft). At night the wind comes screaming down from some of the tallest mountains in the Solar […]
November 25, 2012
A piece of Mars: Small dunes (or possibly ripples) are likely no longer moving in today’s winds. Or are they? Dark splotches on their upper (northern) sides suggest some kind of wind scour has recently occurred. Winds blow, create dunes, […]
November 20, 2012
A piece of Mars: Some places on Mars highlight just how effective the wind is at sculpting the surface. This is a good example. Dark and light stripes on the right show not one but two successive influxes of sand: […]
November 1, 2012
A piece of Mars: When the wind blows sand up against obstacles like this bright little hill, the sand is swept around to the sides. This leaves a wind shadow in the wake of the hill. It’s one of the […]
August 28, 2012
A piece of Gale crater, Mars: Here is a tiny piece of feathery terrain way up high on Mt. Sharp, the mountain that Curiosity will one day climb. This is a special unit of fine-grained material that has weathered into […]
July 26, 2012
A piece of Mars: Wind streaks are a common sight on Mars. They are formed either by the wind blowing stuff away or blowing stuff in, and it can be quite difficult to tell which is which. In this case, […]