Mars - Mars Global Surveyor

Winter Clouds and Fog on Mars

Mars
This image was taken in martian northern winter a little after 8:00 a.m. local solar time over the Kasai Vallis region of Mars and is centered roughly at 30 N, 65 W. Clouds can be seen in the upper (north) part of the image, the clouds making a pattern of straight lines are gravity wave clouds and the thick clouds running from southeast to northwest are due to a weather front. The clouds are presumably mainly made of water ice. The Kasei outflow channel at the lower portion of the image is filled in its lowest areas with fog, which shows up in the image as bright orange. The image is roughly 800 km across. (Mars Global Surveyor, MRPS88926)
Larger image:

High resolution tiff file (0.8 Mb)

Location & Time Information
Date/Time (UT): 1998-06-05 T 00:34:22
Distance/Range (km): 960.
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): 30, 65 W
Orbit(s): 345

Imaging Information
Area or Feature Type: clouds, haze, fog
Instrument: Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Instrument Resolution (pixels): 3456 line array, 8-bit
Instrument Field of View (deg): 140.
Filter: red, blue
Illumination Incidence Angle (deg): 67.
Phase Angle (deg): 71.
Instrument Look Direction: N/A
Surface Emission Angle (deg): 3.

Ordering Information
CD-ROM Volume: MGSC_0006 (raw images)
NASA Image ID number: MRPS88926
Other Image ID number:
NSSDC Data Set ID (Photo): XD-12A
NSSDC Data Set ID (CD): 96-062A-01A (raw images)
Other ID: P-49926

Updated 23 May 2003, DRW.