South Polar Ice - False Color

This false color image shows part of the south polar cap. The cap was created over millions of years with deposition of ice and dust during different seasons. This image was collected during spring time. In addition to the layers of ice/dust (bottom of image) the surface of the ice contains dark spots, may of which are elongated. The process forming these spots is still not understood, but likely occurs by geysers of ice and dust that erupt in regions of thin CO2 ice (dry ice). These spots will fade from view as spring changes into summer. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number: 65107 Latitude: -86.2797 Longitude: 98.6099 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-08-17 17:37 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23614