Kenneth L. Jones

One Mars year: viking lander imaging observations.

Throughout the complete Mars year during which they have been on the planet, the imaging systems aboard the two Viking landers have documented a variety of surface changes. Surface condensates, consisting of both solid H2O and CO2, formed at the Viking 2 lander site during the winter. Additional observations suggest that surface erosion rates due to dust redistribution may be substantially less than those predicted on the basis of pre-Viking observations. The Viking 1 lander will continue to acquire and transmit a predetermined sequence of imaging and meteorology data as long as it is operative.

A multiangle imaging spectroradiometer for terrestrial remote sensing from the earth observing system

The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument for the Earth Observing System (EOS) will provide a unique opportunity for studying the ecology and climate of the Earth through the acquisition of systematic, global multiangle imagery in reflected sunlight. MISR employs nine discrete cameras pointed at fixed angles, viewing the nadir direction and forward and aftward along the spacecraft ground track. Each camera is a charge‐coupled‐device –based pushbroom imager. Within a 7‐minute period, every point in a 204‐km‐wide swath is imaged at the nine viewing angles, ensuring observations acquired under virtually identical illumination and atmospheric conditions. The cameras will image the Earth in the nadir direction and at 30.7°, 45.6°, 60.0°, and 72.5° forward and aftward of the local vertical at the Earths surface. Images at each angle will be obtained in four spectral bands centered at 440, 550, 670, and 860 nm. MISR is capable of taking image data in two different spatial resolution modes: Local Mode, in which selected targets are observed with 240‐m spatial sampling, and Global Mode, where the entire sunlit Earth is observed continuously with 1.92‐km sampling. Absolute radiometric calibration of the MISR instrument will be performed in‐flight using special on‐board hardware. The data produced by MISR will be valuable in a number of scientific discipline areas, and MISR images and geophysical products will be archived at the EOS Data and Information System to make them available to the broad scientific community.

Analysis of active volcanoes from the earth observing system

Abstract A study of volcanic activity and its effects on the atmosphere is one of 28 interdisciplinary investigations, for the Earth Observing System (EOS), due to be launched in 1997 and 1999. The volcanology investigation will include long- and short-term monitoring of selected volcanoes, the detection of precursory activity associated with unanticipated eruptions, and the detailed study of on-going eruptions. The data collected will allow us to address two aspects of volcanism: volcanic padforms and the atmospheric effects of eruptions. A variety of instruments on the two NASA EOS platforms, together with supplemental data from the Japanese and European platforms, will enable the study of local- to regional-scale thermal and deformational features of volcanoes, and the chemical and structural features of volcanic eruption plumes and aerosols. This investigation fits well within the overall goal of the EOS Project, which is to study the regional and global interrelationships between components of the Earth System, because it specifically investigates the links between volcanism, atmospheric chemistry and short-term (1–3 year) climate change.

Viking 1 Lander on the surface of Mars - Revised location

Abstract Late in 1977, the periapsis altitude of the Viking Orbiters was lowered from 1500 to 300 km. The higher resolution of pictures taken at the lower altitude (8 m/pixel) permitted a more accurate determination of the location of the Viking 1 Lander by correlating topographic features seen in the new pictures with the same features in lander pictures. The position of the lander on Viking Orbiter picture 452B11 (NGF Rectilinear) is line 293, sample 1099. This location of the Viking 1 Lander has been used in a revision of the control net of Mars (M.E. Davies, F.Y. Katayama, and J.A. Roth, R2309 NASA, The Rand Corp., Feb. 1978). The new areographic coordinates of the lander are lat 22.483° N and long 47.968° W. The new location is estimated to be accurate to within 50 m.