Colorful spring games on Mars | construction paper

Teaser image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

There are no daisies, daffodils, and flowers on Mars in spring—but there are special plays of colors and patterns on its rough surface. See more in the photo gallery.

Source: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Avalanche season: As temperatures rise, ice destabilizes and breaks away from stratified sediments in the Arctic.

In fact, Mars is a vernal planet because spring lasts the longest of all the four seasons here: Of the 687 days of the Martian year, 194 are attributed to spring. In 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, the day is approximately equal to the Earth’s day.

Mars, like Earth, has seasons, or rather, phases with different temperatures, because its axis of rotation, like Earth’s, is tilted. However, at 25.19 degrees, the tilt is slightly more than Earth’s (23.44 degrees).

20 degrees hot?

Mars is closest to it because it moves around the sun when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun. At the same time, the Northern Hemisphere is farthest from the Sun. As a result, the seasons in the southern and northern hemispheres are very different: summer in the south of the planet is much warmer than in the north. However, according to the ESA website, the weather is never pleasant anywhere on the planet, even during the warm season. Although it can reach 20 degrees, the lowest temperature is unforgiving in the summer at minus 140 degrees.

melting of the polar cap

Before that happens, the Antarctic cap begins to melt in the spring and may disappear completely in the summer. The following images show that the inhospitable planet is beginning to thrive in a figurative sense, as powdery frost melts with the thaw and sometimes creates plays of color and structure on the desert-like land. (maybe)

Source: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The image shows the frost-covered sand dunes near Nordböckel starting to thaw. The dark spots and lines are the areas where the frozen carbon dioxide begins to melt.

Source: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The image shows frost-covered sand dunes near the North Pole starting to thaw. The dark spots and lines are the areas where the frozen carbon dioxide begins to melt.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

When the carbon dioxide ice in the Arctic evaporates, various phenomena occur, such as in this photo: Strips of dark basalt sand have emerged from beneath the ice, forming sediments.

Source: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona)

With the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere of Mars, the dunes near the poles begin to melt.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Spring in the south polar region of Mars: The thick layer of carbon dioxide ice that accumulated during the winter begins to evaporate.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

When the ice cap disappears, the landscape is partially eroded: here, gullies form a star-shaped pattern.