Posted on 07/06/2025 11:44:43 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin Martian atmosphere. This fresh layer is deposited on a water-ice layer that exists year round. Strong winds blow down from above the cap's center and swirl due to the spin of the red planet -- contributing to Planum Boreum's spiral structure. The featured image is a perspective mosaic generated in 2017 from numerous images taken by ESA's Mars Express and elevations extracted from the laser altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
Similar to what the trade winds would do on earth, I guess, if the surface never changed except for wind erosion.
Hey, that’s pretty cool. But sorry Elon, still don’t want to live there.
Looks like water caused that swirling ... but then ...
It was those darned Martian SUVs and coal mines that melted everything…
I wonder what the distance is across the photo.
Cinnabon? Mmmmmmmmm…….😛
One thing that is curious is that Mars’ North Pole appears to be terraced. It would be cool to know what forces caused that.
Are those terraces or canyons? Hard to tell from one angle only. Mars has been almost geologically dead since the early solar system. Almost the only thing that shapes the surface anymore is wind.
One thing’s for certain- Percival Lowell was wrong about the canals.
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