Sand Dunes Moving in the Nili Patera Caldera on Mars

Author(s): Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Recently, it was discovered that the sand dunes on Mars are moving. This important result was obtained by means of some high resolution HiRISE images, recorded three years apart, of the dunes in the Nili Patera caldera. Here we compare an image HiRISE of 2007 with an image of 1999 recorded by the Mars Global Surveyor. Using Gimp, a GNU image processing software, to enhance the images, we can see and measure the motion of the dunes during a longer period of time.

Google Mars, Dune motion, Satellite images, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor, GIMP, Image processing

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