The Frosted Craters of Northern Spring and Southern Autumn

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-258, 27 November 2000 · Download full size image

The Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle system is used to monitor changes in martian weather and the seasonal coming and going of polar frost. These four wide angle pictures of craters in both the northern and southern middle and polar latitudes of Mars show examples of frost monitoring conducted by the MOC in recent months. It is spring in the northern hemisphere, and frost that accumulated during the most recent 6-month-long winter has been retreating since May. Examples of frost-rimmed craters include Lomonosov (top, left) and an unnamed crater farther north (top, right). The unnamed crater has a patch of frost on its floor that--based on how it looked during the 1970s Viking missions--is expected to persist through summer. Posted on: 28 Oct, 2003

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