NASA's spacecraft reveals spring on Mars with stunning images of icy avalanches and gas geysers. Check out the captivating visuals from the Red Planet!

The New Year on Mars doesn’t begin with champagne but with gas geysers and icy avalanches. This is what can be observed on the surface of the Red Planet, as the Martian New Year starts with the arrival of spring in its northern hemisphere. The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has showcased how spring looks on Mars, as noted by Space.

Unlike the northern hemisphere on Earth, the New Year on Mars commences with the onset of the spring season. It began in mid-November 2024 and will last for 657 Earth days. The start of the new year is marked by a drastic transition from winter to spring when temperatures on the planet rise.

While ice on Earth gradually melts in spring and is almost imperceptible, on Mars, the process is quite loud. Instead of the usual melting, cracks and explosions occur on the Martian surface.

On Mars, ice does not transform from a solid state to a liquid; instead, sublimation occurs, where ice turns directly into gas, bypassing the liquid state. This transformation can be quite abrupt, as both dry ice made of carbon dioxide and regular ice made of water become significantly weaker and start to break apart.

These changes on the Martian surface have been captured by the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. According to scientists, these images serve as a reminder of how vastly different Mars is from Earth, especially in spring when the planet's surface undergoes particularly noticeable changes.

NASA scientists have presented some images of Martian spring.

Icy Avalanches on Mars

As temperatures rise in spring on Mars, chunks of ice made of carbon dioxide begin to break apart and fall to the surface, resulting in icy avalanches. The image below shows a piece of ice that is 20 meters wide, in free fall.

Gas Geysers on Mars

When sunlight passes through carbon dioxide ice on Mars, it heats the lower layers, which instead of melting into liquid, turn into gas. The accumulated gas eventually leads to the formation of gas geysers that eject dark rock fragments to the surface. This results in strange dark shapes appearing on the Martian surface.

"Spiders" on Mars

Sometimes, after carbon dioxide geysers erupt from the ice-covered areas on Mars, they leave distinctive marks on the surface. These marks resemble the legs of giant spiders.

Strange Ice Cap on Mars

As temperatures rise in spring on Mars, strong winds cut deep troughs into the ice cap of the northern pole of the Red Planet as the ice melts. Consequently, characteristic patterns appear on the ice cap.

Drifting Dunes on Mars

Another fascinating phenomenon observable in spring on Mars is the reshaping of sand dunes by the same warm and strong winds that alter the ice cap. Martian dunes are created and shifted as sand accumulates on one side while being blown away on the other. In winter, carbon dioxide frost forms on the tops of the sand dunes, freezing and anchoring the dunes in place until the spring thaw allows them to move again.