HiRISE | Complicated Layers at the North Pole of Mars (ESP_089277

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Complicated Layers at the North Pole of Mars
ESP_089277_2595 Science Theme: Polar Geology

Much like the Earth, Mars has layered ice caps that contain a climate record. At the North Pole of Mars there’s an ice sheet with hundreds (maybe thousands) of layers, and we can see some of these layers in windows where the ice cap has been eroded.

In this HiRISE image, the layering in this window is complicated. The layers often don’t stack neatly on top of each other. Sometimes layers are eroded, then more layered ice is formed, and then the whole stack of layers is eroded again. When this happens, you can sometimes see some layers appearing to truncate others (geologists call these features unconformities).

As HiRISE acquires more images, a more complete record of Martian climate can be assembled.

Written by: Shane Byrne (17 February 2026)

Acquisition date
12 August 2025

Local Mars time
14:37

Latitude (centered)
79.510°

Longitude (East)
336.875°

Spacecraft altitude
319.3 km (198.5 miles)

Original image scale range
from 32.0 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 63.9 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning)

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel

Map projection
Polarstereographic

Emission angle
0.3°

Phase angle
61.7°

Solar incidence angle
61°, with the Sun about 29° above the horizon

Solar longitude
124.0°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 106°
Sub-solar azimuth: 327.1°

JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (510MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (360MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (247MB)
non-map           (292MB)

IRB color
map projected (102MB)
non-map           (228MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (159MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (153MB)

RGB color
non map           (219MB)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.