Texas A&M University
Department of Oceanography

Summer 1999 - Vol. 7, No. 1

Mars' north pole:

Right: Approximately 2.6 million laser pulse measurements were assembled into a topographic grid of Mars' north pole. This 3-D picture of the pole enabled scientists to estimate the volume of its water ice cap with unprecedented precision.

Below: Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera obtained this view of the north polar layered deposits, a terrain believed to be composed of ice and dust deposited over millions of years. The swirled pattern in the image is channels eroded into this deposit. The pattern is accentuated by the illumination and seasonal frost differences that arise on sun-facing slopes during the summer. The permanent portion of the north polar cap covers most of the region with a layer of ice of unknown thickness.

For all images on these pages:
Sojourner ®, Mars Rover ® and spacecraft design and images © copyright 1996-97, California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Further reproduction prohibited.
 
 

http://oceanography.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/1999/1/morse_northernhemi.html
© Copyright 1999, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University.

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