It’s Springtime on Mars, and the Dunes are Defrosting

It's springtime on Mars and you can see the dunes.

In the northern hemisphere, springtime has arrived, and observations from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Experiment) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured partially defrosted dunes on the western slope of dunes inside Kaiser Crater.

In the winter, the sand dunes are covered in a blanket of white ice, which can be seen in the image below. This image shows the beginning of Martian springtime, where the sunny side of the dunes had just begun to thaw. The lead image shows the darker dunes.

Bright patches of frost are visible and are made up of water and carbon dioxide ices. These flows are caused by the rapid transformation of the frost from ice to gas as the sun warms the dune.

The loose regolith inside the crater is whipped across by Martian winds.

The Kaiser Crater is situated in Noachis Terra west of Hellas Planitia in the northern hemisphere. The southern part of the crater floor contains several sand dunes.