A "winter wonderland" is observed on Mars: how snow on the Red Planet differs from snow on Earth. Photo

ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have taken a photo of the Martian landscape. The red planet is covered with snow.

The photos show a snowy landscape in the  Australe Scopuli region of Mars, near the planet's south pole. But the "snow" we see in these images is very different from what we have on Earth. It is ice made of carbon dioxide, and there is a layer of it 8 meters thick at the south pole of Mars all year round, Space writes.

It looks like there is not only "snow" in these images. Those darker areas are layers of dust that have fallen to the surface of the ice. The dust is usually deep under the ice, but the seasonal process brings some of it to the surface.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has also seen winter frost covering the sides of dunes on Mars. This frost can prevent erosion by holding the dust that forms the dunes in place until the spring thaw season.

When sunlight heats the carbon dioxide ice at the south pole of Mars in summer, the ice begins to sublimate, i.e., turn from a solid to a vapor. At the same time, pockets of trapped gas form inside the ice.

Eventually, the pressure builds up enough that a small eruption of gas occurs that is powerful enough to shoot the dark dust under the ice into the air. As the dust falls back to the surface, the wind carries it in these swirling patterns.

So what looks like a beautiful pastoral winter wonderland in these images of the Mars Express is actually a dynamic summer scene where gas jets spray dust across the surface. At least it is still cold outside – only -125°C.

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