When the frozen carbon dioxide melted in the summer, distinctive brands are dreams on the Martian landscape. These are known as “Araneidoform Terrain” because they look like spiders when they are seen from space. Some of these cobweb soils are over a kilometer across and some have hung their legs. They are often found in swarms. The above picture was taken by orbiter Mars while viewing the southern hemisphere in 2009.
The processes that create these spider formations are not fully understood, although JPL works on imitating the temperature and pressures of Mars to re -create them.
The arrival of spring on Mars also brings strong winds and it is believed that the characteristic spiral formula of the Mars northern polar cap has been created for many years by winds blowing from the center of the cap on its periphery. The spiral formula is caused by a coriolis effect, which is when the rotation of the planet bends the windows.
The darker parts of the spiral are active deep canyons that have been interrupted for a long time with spring winds. The boreale chasma, which is visible to the right of the center of the polar cap in the picture, is especially spectacular. It is as long as the Grand Canyon (about 450 kilometers) and up to 2 kilometers deep.
Strong spring winds also move moving sand dunes on the Martian surface, as well as the wind in deserts on the ground.
The white things you see in the picture are frost surrounding the raised dunes that remain static while they are frozen. When the temperatures are melting in spring and this ice, the dunes begin to move again due to the wind.
“As we are, the onset of spring on Mars is very active.” You could even say “explosive”, says Diniega. “I imagine it would be very noisy, cracking and exploding.”
This story originally appeared on Japan and was translated from the Japanese.
(Tagstotranslate) Space