HiRISE

Beautiful Dunes on Mars, Sculpted by Swirling Winds

This interesting image from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a field of fascinating dunes called barchan dunes. These dunes have formed along a cliff in Chasma Boreale, in the North Pole of Mars.

The High-Resolution Imaging Experiment, or HIRISE is a powerful camera takes pictures that see features as small as a desk from orbit. The image here shows an area less than 1 km (under a mile) across and MRO was about 197 km above the surface when the image was taken.

HiRISE scientists say that barchan dunes are common on both Earth and Mars. Usually, these dunes are very distinctive in shape, and are important because they can tell scientists about the environment in which they formed and the direction of the winds at a particular location.

Barchan Dunes are formed in prevailing winds. Image Credit: unknown. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=571880

Barchans form in sandy areas where winds blow in one dominant direction. This creates a crescent-shaped sand dune. The arcs of sand that define the barchan dunes end in “horns” that point downwind, while sand is blown into crests and slopes. Many times, this forms a shape that, from above, looks like the Star Trek insignia.

This crescent-shaped barchan dune in southeast Hellas Planitia is the result of a complex story of dunes, lava, and wind. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

The winds at the Martian North Pole must swirl in various directions because the dunes shown above aren’t shaped in the classic crescent, chevron shape. The image was taken using the red-green-blue filter on the camera, giving the sand a blue appearance.

The HiRISE camera operates in visible wavelengths, the same as human eyes, but with a telescopic lens that makes it one of the highest resolution cameras currently in space. These high-resolution images enable scientists to distinguish 1-meter-size (about 3-foot-size) objects on Mars and to study the surface structure in a much more comprehensive manner than any other Mars mission.

HiRISE also makes observations at near-infrared wavelengths to obtain information on the minerals present. MRO has been in Mars orbit since 2006, and the longevity of the mission means planetary scientists can track changes over time. The goal for taking the lead image is for the team to track for seasonal changes in this region over time.

Further reading:
See a larger version of our lead image on Flickr.
Learn more about HiIRSE

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

Neutron Stars are Jetting Material Away at 40% the Speed of Light

It’s a well known fact that black holes absorb anything that falls into them. Often…

5 hours ago

Lunar Night Permanently Ends the Odysseus Mission

On February 15th, Intuitive Machines (IM) launched its first Nova-C class spacecraft from Kennedy Space…

15 hours ago

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how…

17 hours ago

This Supernova Lit Up the Sky in 1181. Here’s What it Looks Like Now

Historical astronomical records from China and Japan recorded a supernova explosion in the year 1181.…

20 hours ago

Hubble Sees a Star About to Ignite

This is an image of the FS Tau multi-star system taken by the Hubble Space…

20 hours ago

This Black Hole is a Total Underachiever

Anyone can be an underachiever, even if you're an astronomical singularity weighing over four billion…

21 hours ago