Left panel: GASS H I emission for the velocity channel v = 198 km s⁻¹, in a log scale. The center of the SMC is marked by a white plus sign. The grey rectangle in this and the following panel is zoomed in the right panel. Central panel: same region as the previous panel, but showing in a linear scale the mean temperature for the mean ±1σ distribution in the velocity channel. A clear “Z” shape is seen with a gradient in temperature toward the center of the SMC. Right panel: enlarged region (grey rectangles in the previous panels) showing the distribution of H I in a linear scale over-plotted to the young main sequence stars as white dots (box 1 in Fig. 3).