The elaborate designs and curls of this martian terrain are produced by the thawing of spring. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
While these icy plains may resemble a beautiful winter landscape covered in snow, this frost is indeed made of solid carbon dioxide across the southern Australe Scopuli sector of Mars. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express detected this vista utilizing its High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) during its 23,324th orbit around the Red Planet.
The photograph taken in June 2022 illustrates the land gradually adapting to the martian summer — although the temperature remains –193 degrees Fahrenheit (–125 degrees Celsius). As the climate starts to heat up, the frost also begins to change. On the left side of the image, the darker sections indicate where the ice has sublimated, transitioning from a solid to vapor.
The swirling designs across the area are created when the Sun’s rays heat the darker spots beneath the frost prior to it melting. This gas that has sublimated eventually escapes and scatters dust particles. The martian breezes carry this dust for several feet, crafting distinct shapes on the surface.
Similar phenomena on the martian terrain can create surface features resembling spiders, eggs, lacework, and halos.
Mars is presently undergoing another spring season which commenced in November and will persist until the conclusion of May 2025.