Gullies at the Start of Martian Spring | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) regularly takes repeat images of gullies to look for changes. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) ice blocks on Mars may dig gullies as they slide and sublimate in the thin atmosphere. Sublimation is the transition of a substance from solid to gas without becoming liquid.
This site is one of the most frequent monitoring sites with more than 70 images to date. It is imaged frequently due to the latitude. The gullies have a long season with carbon dioxide frost (dry ice) moving rocks and dust around the surface. In past images, we have seen many changes to the frost patterns and the underlying ground.
This image is the first one for this Mars year. However, you can already see dark spots where gas is breaking out from under the frost and taking sand and dust with it. MRO will try to take more images this year to see how the surface changes.
This HiRISE enhanced color camera image (less than 1 km in size) was captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) at an altitude of 252 km (~157 miles).
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spent over twenty years (2006-2026) orbiting the Red Planet, collecting valuable scientific data.
The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). It was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Washington.
Image Date: Nov. 23, 2025
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