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This image of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, acquired on May 13, 2018 during the winter at the South Pole of Mars, shows a cap of carbon dioxide spanning the region and that the sun returns in spring, " spiders "begin to emerge. the landscape.
But they are not real spiders. Known as "araneiform terrain", it describes the spider-like mounds that form when the ice of carbon dioxide below the surface warms up and releases. It's an active seasonal process that has not been seen on Earth. Like dry ice on Earth, carbon dioxide ice on Mars is sublimated when it warms (goes from solid to gas) and the gas becomes trapped beneath the surface.
Over time, trapped carbon dioxide takes the pressure to pierce the ice like a jet of dust. The gas is released into the atmosphere and darker dust can settle around the vent or be carried by the winds to produce streaks. The loss of sublimed carbon dioxide leaves behind these characteristics similar to spiders etched into the surface.
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Image: Frosty dunes on Mars
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