The white arrows indicate locations in this scene where numerous seasonal dark streaks have been identified in the Coprates Montes area of Mars’ Valles Marineris by repeated observations from orbit.
The streaks, called recurring slope lineae or RSL, extend downslope during a warm season, fade in the colder part of the year, and repeat the process the next Martian year. They are regarded as the strongest evidence for the possibility of liquid water on the surface of modern Mars.
This oblique perspective for this view uses a three-dimensional terrain model derived from a stereo pair of observations by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scene covers an area approximately 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers) wide.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona