Wind Etching

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Caption:

Context image

Today's VIS image is located near Memnonia Sulci, on the edge of Lucus Planum. The material at the top and left side of the image has been eroded by the wind to form features called yardangs. Yardangs form in a poorly cemented material where the wind cuts linear valleys, removing some of the material and leaving parallel ridges behind. The direction of the ridge/valley is aligned with the wind direction.

Orbit Number: 63540 Latitude: -7.94852 Longitude: 187.928 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-04-10 16:20

Background Info:

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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