Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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During April 2005, the image of the day concentrated on dunes, including the north polar sand sea and isolated dune fields at lower latitudes. Sand seas on Earth are often called "ergs", an Arabic name for dune field. A sand sea differs from a dune field in two ways: 1) a sand sea has a large regional extent, and 2) the individual dunes are large in size and complex in form.

This VIS image was taken at 82 degrees North latitude during Northern spring. The image is completely dominated by dunes. In sand seas, it is very common for a single type of dune to occur, and for a single predominate wind to control the alignment of the dunes.