{ "title": "What on Mars is a High Thermal-Inertia Surface?", "authors": "HiRISE", "metadata": { "thumbnailURL": "https://static.uahirise.org/anews/2021-02-23/ESP_039485_1660.jpg", "excerpt": "The term refers to the ability of a material to conduct and store heat." }, "version": "1.5", "identifier": "ESP_039485_1660", "language": "en", "layout": { "columns": 10, "width": 1024, "margin": 85, "gutter": 20 }, "documentStyle": { "backgroundColor": "#faf7f2" }, "components": [ { "role": "heading1", "layout": "heading1Layout", "text": "HiPOD: 23 February 2021" }, { "role": "divider", "layout": "bigDividerLayout", "stroke": { "width": 3, "color": "#8c2028" } }, { "role": "title", "layout": "halfMarginBelowLayout", "text": "What on Mars is a High Thermal-Inertia Surface?" }, { "role": "photo", "layout": "fullBleedLayout", "caption": "An enhanced color cutout using the central red-green-blue swath. Less than 1 km across. (NASA/JPL/UArizona)", "URL": "https://static.uahirise.org/anews/2021-02-23/ESP_039485_1660.jpg" }, { "role": "body", "format": "html", "layout": "hipodMarginLayout", "text": "
What do we mean when we describe a surface as having “high thermal inertia”? The term refers to the ability of a material to conduct and store heat, and in planetary science, its measure of the subsurface’s ability to store heat during the day and reradiate it during the night.
What causes thermal inertia? It depends on the composition of the terrain that we’re studying. Here in Coprates Chasma, the site of this observation, we find indications of such high thermal inertia, so an image at high resolution may help us determine the composition and structure to give us an answer.
ID: ESP_039485_1660
date: 29 December 2014
altitude: 264 km (164 mi)
NASA/JPL/UArizona