Abalos Undae

Abalos Undae dunes at Abalos Scopuli, the scarp of Abalos Mensa. The ice layers on the cap and basal formations are also visible. The picture was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and was enhanced by NASA in RGB colour.

Abalos Undae (Latin for "Abalos Waves") is a dune field on Mars in the periphery of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is one of the officially named northern circumpolar dune fields, along with Olympia, Hyperboreae, and Siton Undae, and also one of the densest of the region.[1][2] Its northernmost boundary is located in the southwest channel that separates the Abalos Colles formation from the main polar ice cap, and from there the dune field extends southwest all the way to the lowlands of Vastitas Borealis.[2][3][4]

It is theorised that the dunes of the Abalos field may have resulted from erosion of Rupes Tenuis (Latin: Thin Cliff), the polar scarp.[2][5] Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1988.[1] It extends from latitude 74.94°N to 82.2°N and from longitude 261.4°E to 283.03°E (76.97°W – 98.6°W). Its origin is located at classical albedo feature with coordinates 72°N, 70°W and has a diameter of 442.74 km.[1]

  1. ^ a b c "Abalos Undae". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS.
  2. ^ a b c Kate Fishbaugh (19 November 2008). "Dunes in Abalos Undae".
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Icarus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Icarus(2008) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NASAimage was invoked but never defined (see the help page).