L. M. Carter

Radar Sounding of the Medusae Fossae Formation Mars: Equatorial Ice or Dry, Low-Density Deposits?

The equatorial Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) is enigmatic and perhaps among the youngest geologic deposits on Mars. They are thought to be composed of volcanic ash, eolian sediments, or an ice-rich material analogous to polar layered deposits. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument aboard the Mars Express Spacecraft has detected nadir echoes offset in time-delay from the surface return in orbits over MFF material. These echoes are interpreted to be from the subsurface interface between the MFF material and the underlying terrain. The delay time between the MFF surface and subsurface echoes is consistent with massive deposits emplaced on generally planar lowlands materials with a real dielectric constant of ∼2.9 ± 0.4. The real dielectric constant and the estimated dielectric losses are consistent with a substantial component of water ice. However, an anomalously low-density, ice-poor material cannot be ruled out. If ice-rich, the MFF must have a higher percentage of dust and sand than polar layered deposits. The volume of water in an ice-rich MFF deposit would be comparable to that of the south polar layered deposits.

Massive CO2 Ice Deposits Sequestered in the South Polar Layered Deposits of Mars

Radar measurements reveal a substantial buried deposit of carbon dioxide in the south pole of Mars. Shallow Radar soundings from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal a buried deposit of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice within the south polar layered deposits of Mars with a volume of 9500 to 12,500 cubic kilometers, about 30 times that previously estimated for the south pole residual cap. The deposit occurs within a stratigraphic unit that is uniquely marked by collapse features and other evidence of interior CO2 volatile release. If released into the atmosphere at times of high obliquity, the CO2 reservoir would increase the atmospheric mass by up to 80%, leading to more frequent and intense dust storms and to more regions where liquid water could persist without boiling.

No evidence for thick deposits of ice at the lunar south pole

Shackleton crater at the Moon’s south pole has been suggested as a possible site of concentrated deposits of water ice, on the basis of modelling of bi-static radar polarization properties and interpretations of earlier Earth-based radar images. This suggestion, and parallel assumptions about other topographic cold traps, is a significant element in planning for future lunar landings. Hydrogen enhancements have been identified in the polar regions, but these data do not identify the host species or its local distribution. The earlier Earth-based radar data lack the resolution and coverage for detailed studies of the relationship between radar scattering properties, cold traps in permanently shadowed areas, and local terrain features such as the walls and ejecta of small craters. Here we present new 20-m resolution, 13-cm-wavelength radar images that show no evidence for concentrated deposits of water ice in Shackleton crater or elsewhere at the south pole. The polarization properties normally associated with reflections from icy surfaces in the Solar System were found at all the observed latitudes and are strongly correlated with the rock-strewn walls and ejecta of young craters, including the inner wall of Shackleton. There is no correlation between the polarization properties and the degree of solar illumination. If the hydrogen enhancement observed by the Lunar Prospector orbiter indicates the presence of water ice, then our data are consistent with the ice being present only as disseminated grains in the lunar regolith.

Focused 70-cm Wavelength Radar Mapping of the Moon

We describe new 70-cm wavelength radar images of the lunar near-side and limb regions obtained via a synthetic-aperture-radar patch-focusing reduction technique. The data are obtained by transmitting a circularly polarized pulsed waveform from the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico and receiving the echo in both senses of circular polarization with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The resultant images in both polarizations have a spatial resolution as fine as 320 m 450 m near the lunar limb. The patch-focusing technique is a computationally efficient method for compensating for range migration and Doppler (azimuth) smearing over long coherence times, i.e., 983 s, which is needed to achieve the required Doppler resolution. Three to nine looks are averaged for speckle reduction and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. At this long wavelength, the radar signal penetrates up to several tens of meters into the dry lunar surface materials, thus revealing details of the bulk loss properties and decimeter-scale rock abundance not evident in multispectral and other remote-sensing data. Application of the new radar images to the analysis of basalt flow complexes in Mare Serenitatis shows that the long-wavelength radar data are sensitive to differences in both flow age and composition, and may be particularly useful for studies of smaller deposits that do not have robust crater statistics. The new 70-cm lunar radar data are archived at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Planetary Data System.

Dielectric properties of lava flows west of Ascraeus Mons, Mars

[1] The SHARAD instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detects subsurface interfaces beneath lava flow fields northwest of Ascraeus Mons. The interfaces occur in two locations; a northern flow that originates south of Alba Patera, and a southern flow that originates at the rift zone between Ascraeus and Pavonis Montes. The northern flow has permittivity values, estimated from the time delay of echoes from the basal interface, between 6.2 and 17.3, with an average of 12.2. The southern flow has permittivity values of 7.0 to 14.0, with an average of 9.8. The average permittivity values for the northern and southern flows imply densities of 3.7 and 3.4 g cm ―3 , respectively. Loss tangent values for both flows range from 0.01 to 0.03. The measured bulk permittivity and loss tangent values are consistent with those of terrestrial and lunar basalts, and represent the first measurement of these properties for dense rock on Mars.

EXPANSION OF THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT RCW 103

A new CCD image of the supernova remnant RCW 103 was taken in 1995 to compare with a photographic plate taken in 1970. We calculated the proper-motion expansion of the outer edge and several filaments by comparing radial slices through each of the data sets. The mean expansion rate of the outer edge is 1\farcs 8~±~0\farcs 2 per 25 years, or about 1100 km sec-1. At this velocity the remnant is most likely around 2000 years old. In addition, it must have made the transition from the double-shock phase of evolution to the point-blast phase fairly recently for the initial energy of the supernova explosion to be within a reasonable rang.

Constraints on the recent rate of lunar ejecta breakdown and implications for crater ages

We present a new empirical constraint on the rate of breakdown of large ejecta blocks on the Moon based on observations from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner thermal radiometer. We find that the rockiness of fresh crater ejecta can be quantified using the Diviner-derived rock abundance data set, and we present a strong inverse correlation between the 95 th percentile value of the ejecta rock abundance (RA 95/5 ) and crater age. For nine craters with published model ages derived from crater counts on their continuous ejecta, RA 95/5 decreases with crater age, as (age [m.y.]) −0.46 . This result implies shorter rock survival times than predicted based on downward extrapolation of 100 m crater size-frequency distributions, and represents a new empirical constraint on the rate of comminution of large rocks not previously analyzed experimentally or through direct observation. In addition, our result provides a new method for dating young lunar craters.

Geologic Studies of Planetary Surfaces Using Radar Polarimetric Imaging

Radar is a useful remote sensing tool for studying planetary geology because it is sensitive to the composition, structure, and roughness of the surface and can penetrate some materials to reveal buried terrain. The Arecibo Observatory radar system transmits a single sense of circular polarization, and both senses of circular polarization are received, which allows for the construction of the Stokes polarization vector. From the Stokes vector, daughter products such as the circular polarization ratio, the degree of linear polarization, and linear polarization angle are obtained. Recent polarimetric imaging using Arecibo has included Venus and the Moon. These observations can be compared to radar data for terrestrial surfaces to better understand surface physical properties and regional geologic evolution. For example, polarimetric radar studies of volcanic settings on Venus, the Moon, and Earth display some similarities, but also illustrate a variety of different emplacement and erosion mechanisms. Polarimetric radar data provide important information about surface properties beyond what can be obtained from single-polarization radar. Future observations using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar will provide information on roughness, composition, and stratigraphy that will support a broader interpretation of surface evolution.

Volcanic and impact deposits of the Moon's Aristarchus Plateau: A new view from Earth-based radar images

Lunar pyroclastic deposits reflect an explosive stage of the basaltic volcanism that filled impact basins across the nearside. These fine-grained mantling layers are of interest for their association with early mare volcanic processes, and as possible sources of volatiles and other species for lunar outposts. We present Earth-based radar images, at 12.6 and 70 cm wavelengths, of the pyroclastic deposit that blankets the Aristarchus Plateau. The 70 cm data reveal the outlines of a lava-flow complex that covers a significant portion of the plateau and appears to have formed by spillover of magma from the large sinuous rille Vallis Schroteri. The pyroclastics mantling these flows are heavily contaminated with rocks 10 cm and larger in diameter. The 12.6 cm data confirm that other areas are mantled by 20 m or less of material, and that there are numerous patches of 2 cm and larger rocks associated with ejecta from Aristarchus crater. Some of the radar-detected rocky debris is within the mantling material and is not evident in visible-wavelength images. The radar data identify thick, rock-poor areas of the pyroclastic deposit best suited for resource exploitation.

Autofocus Correction of Phase Distortion Effects on SHARAD Echoes

SHARAD is a frequency-modulated (15-25 MHz) radar sounder that probes the upper few kilometers of the Martian crust and polar layered deposits. At solar zenith angles less than about 100°, the ionosphere of Mars can induce phase distortion in surface and subsurface radar echoes that substantially degrades the signal-to-noise ratio and vertical resolution of the range-compressed data. We present a range-compression autofocus approach that estimates the phase distortion of SHARAD data along ground-track segments of about 100 km, using a power-law image-sharpness metric and an empirically derived scaling between the phase correction and radar frequency. This method is rapid, yields a greatly improved subsurface image, and provides a means to track regional and temporal changes in the Martian ionosphere.