March -View of the south pole - Mars South Pole: Image of the southern polar...

March -View of the south pole - Mars South Pole: Image of the southern polar cap of Mars obtained by the Mars Express probe on December 17, 2012. The bright white region of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars' south pole, composed of frozen water and carbon dioxide. The southern cap reaches some 3 km thick in places, and is around 350 km in diameter. This icy region is permanent; in the martian winter another, thinner ice cap forms over the top of it, stretching further out across the planet and disappearing again when the weather warms up. Mars Express imaged this area of March on 17 December 2012, in infrared, green and blue light, using its High Resolution Stereo Camera.