Perspective view of the Korolev Crater near the north pole of Mars
Perspective view of the Korolev Crater near the north pole of Mars
The image shows the 82-kilometre-diameter Korolev crater. It contains a 1800-metre-long glacier. It is extremely cold in Mars’ high northern latitudes – during the polar night, temperatures can fall well below minus 100 degrees Celsius. Some craters lying to the south of the permanent ice cap at the north pole become proper ‘cold traps’ that hold ice all year round, as the carbon dioxide atmosphere cools above the ice sheet, acting a little like an insulator. Frost and ice deposits have also formed along the two-kilometre-high crater rim, which sublimate over the course of the seasons, making the direct transition from solid to gas. The viewing direction is southeast to northwest.