Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Detailed information on this image is available at the THEMIS Data Releases website.

 

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

 

The polar regions of Mars have surfaces than can show dark spots on a brighter background. These surfaces are informally called "dalmatian terrain" because of their appearance. This image shows this type of terrain in a valley within the southern polar layered deposits, not too far from the south polar cap. Elsewhere, defrosting dunes have shown a similar spotted pattern. Perhaps this "dalmatian terrain" is a distinctive pattern that forms over all defrosting patches of sand.