Context image for PIA10818
Polar Dunes
Spring in the northern polar region means the return of the sun. This image
shows a small portion of the north polar sand sea, an immense region of sand
dunes. The dunes are just starting to shed their winter frost and will darken
as spring becomes summer and the dark sand is revealed.
Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 82.1N, Longitude 182.3E.
20 meter/pixel resolution.
Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.
Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor
geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical
correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear
shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to
approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and
geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary
Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe,
in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS
investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.