Investigation of Small Scale (<50m) Surface Features on Mars' North Polar Cap Using Data from HiRISE

The North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) of Mars host a wide array of small scale (<50m) features likely to be formed by aeolian processes. Taking data from the High Resolution Imaging Scientific Experiment (HiRISE), features less than 50 m over the entirety of the NPLD are characterized and mapped. A 2D Fast Fourier Transform is used to infer general spacing and orientation tendencies of surface patterns. Whether these features can be formed by sublimation processes is also tested. Of the 499 HiRISE images extracted, roughly 69% of features are found whose morphology suggest that they are aeolian in origin. Some ripples found align themselves with the local katabatic winds and their changing orientations are likely subjected to katabatic jumps. Sublimation driven features, penitentes, that can form are found to orientate themselves east-west with the tilt pointing towards the equator. However, their modeled size ranges from 10^2 10^3 m.