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It's springtime on Mars and the mysterious polygons are in bloom, a new image from the orbiting High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HIRISE) camera shows.

Recorded on March 30, 2022, the image reveals a patchwork of white zig-zags cracking across the Martian soil at high latitudes, with occasional sprays of black and blue mist fanning out between them.

The zig-zags and colorful sprays are signature features of Martian spring, when hidden reservoirs of subterranean ice butt up against the dry Martian surface, researchers at the University of Arizona — which manages the HIRISE mission — wrote in a statement on Monday (June 20).

"Both water and dry ice have a major role in sculpting Mars' surface at high latitudes," the researchers wrote.

When this transformation occurs, vents of dry ice spray out of the Martian surface, leaving dark, fan-shaped deposits of particles spread across the ground, the researchers said.

A single ice vent can open and close multiple times, spraying particles in different directions across the Martian surface depending on the wind.

Brandon has been a senior writer at Live Science since 2017, and was formerly a staff writer and editor at Reader's Digest magazine.

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