HiRISE | Gullies at the Start of Martian Spring (ESP_090596

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Gullies at the Start of Martian Spring
ESP_090596_1115 Science Theme: Mass Wasting Processes

HiRISE regularly takes repeat images of gullies to look for changes. This site is one of the most frequent monitoring sites, with more than 70 images to date.

It is imaged frequently because 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’ve seen many previous changes, both to the frost patterns and the underlying ground.

This image is the first one for this Mars year, but you can already see dark spots where gas is breaking out from under the frost and taking sand and dust with it. HiRISE will try to take more images this year to see how the surface changes, so check again in a few months!

Written by: HiRISE Team (24 August 2026)

Acquisition date
23 November 2025

Local Mars time
16:18

Latitude (centered)
-68.473°

Longitude (East)
1.294°

Spacecraft altitude
252.2 km (156.7 miles)

Original image scale range
50.8 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~152 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel

Map projection
Polarstereographic

Emission angle
5.2°

Phase angle
78.1°

Solar incidence angle
82°, with the Sun about 8° above the horizon

Solar longitude
176.7°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 99°
Sub-solar azimuth: 33.2°

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   (220MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (79MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (114MB)
non-map           (170MB)

IRB color
map projected (39MB)
non-map           (63MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (197MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (189MB)

RGB color
non map           (99MB)

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.