Skip to the content

Mars ice maps

Global maps of carbon dioxide and water ices at the south pole of Mars. Left, the carbon dioxide ice absorption feature is scaled from blue (deep) to brown (carbon dioxide ice-free areas); right, mapping of the water ice, from blue (deep absorption) to red (ice-free). Comparison shows that the water ice areas extend far beyond the carbon dioxide rich bright cap, along its scarps up to isolated units tens of kilometres wide (image credit: Bibring et al. Nature 2004).