The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft captured a Martian avalanche in process on February 19, 2008.
This particular avalanche is on a scarp in the northern polar region and is a 2,300 ft (700 meters) high and has slopes of over 60 degrees. The snow white material is carbon dioxide frost which you can see mixing with dusty ice at the bottom of the scarp. The larger cloud of material is about 590 feet (180 meters) across and extends about 625 feet (190 meters) from the base of the scarp.
The press release talks about possible causes, one cause I thought was interesting, was the possibility of a nearby meteor impact. My money is on thermal changes, but hey the meteor idea has some pizzazz!
Check out the press release here.
Oh and you probably think catching an avalanche from an orbiting spacecraft is rare, and you would of course be correct; amazingly MRO has done it four times now.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
This particular avalanche is on a scarp in the northern polar region and is a 2,300 ft (700 meters) high and has slopes of over 60 degrees. The snow white material is carbon dioxide frost which you can see mixing with dusty ice at the bottom of the scarp. The larger cloud of material is about 590 feet (180 meters) across and extends about 625 feet (190 meters) from the base of the scarp.
The press release talks about possible causes, one cause I thought was interesting, was the possibility of a nearby meteor impact. My money is on thermal changes, but hey the meteor idea has some pizzazz!
Check out the press release here.
Oh and you probably think catching an avalanche from an orbiting spacecraft is rare, and you would of course be correct; amazingly MRO has done it four times now.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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