Spring Dunes

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Caption:

22 July 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dunes in the north polar region of Mars. In this scene, the dunes, and the plain on which the dunes reside, are at least in part covered by a bright carbon dioxide frost. Dark spots indicate areas where the frost has begun to change, either by subliming away to expose dark sand, changing to a coarser particle size, or both. The winds responsible for the formation of these dunes blew from the lower left (southwest) toward the upper right (northeast).

Location near : 76.3°N, 261.2°W
Image width : ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from : lower left
Season : Northern Spring

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