Introduction to the Current and recent landscape evolution on Mars special issue
Abstract
The early views of Mars, derived of the Mariner and Viking missions, hinted at a surface environment that was invariably cold, extremely dry (at least in the relatively-recent past), low in atmospheric pressure and, largely, inanimate. Repeat orbital observations combined with the collection of in situ data have revealed a contrary geological facet. Mars is unrelentingly in flux, it seems, at temporal and geological scales ranging from micro- to macro- and, bi-hemispherically, at polar and non-polar latitudes.