More and more frequently in recent years, I see images from space that simply take my breath away – this image from Mars did just that. I’m not sure what it is about these rolling dunes on Mars that struck me – maybe it’s that they are so similar to dunes on Earth, yet they exist millions of kilometers away on an alien world. Maybe it’s just that they are beautiful. You can download this image in multiple resolutions here. From the University of Arizona post: Dune fields located among canyon wall slopes are also known as “wall dune fields” and are further identified as either climbing or falling. Falling dunes are defined as large bedforms with lee faces on the downhill side—indicating that this is the direction of their migration—and on moderate slopes greater than 10 to 12 degrees. (A lee face is the the down-wind side of a dune.) On Earth and Mars, these types of dunes are … Continue reading →