Search Publications
Topographic measurements of slope streaks on Mars
Head, James W.; Brusnikin, Eugene S.; Kreslavsky, Mikhail A. +4 more
Slope streaks are enigmatic, actively forming albedo features occurring on slopes in high-albedo, low-thermal-inertia, dust-rich equatorial regions on Mars. They are a specifically martian phenomenon with no direct analogs on the Earth. Their morphology suggests that the streaks are initiated at their upslope tips and propagate down to their termi…
Compositional and spatial variations in Titan dune and interdune regions from Cassini VIMS and RADAR
Malaska, Michael J.; Solomonidou, Anezina; Le Gall, Alice +4 more
Dunes cover about 15 % of Titan's visible surface, and represent one of the largest reservoirs of hydrocarbon solids on Titan (Rodriguez, S. et al. [2014]. Icarus 230, 168-179; Lopes, R.M.C. et al. [2016]. Icarus 270, 162-182.). Herein, we use data from the Cassini spacecraft to derive constraints on the compositional and regional variability of T…
Effects of radial motion on interchange injections at Saturn
Krupp, N.; Thomsen, M. F.; Jackman, C. M. +12 more
Charged particle injections are regularly observed in Saturn's inner magnetosphere by Cassini. They are attributed to an ongoing process of flux-tube interchange driven by the strong centrifugal force associated with Saturn's rapid rotation. Numerical simulations suggest that these interchange injections can be associated with inward flow channels…
Recurrent pulsations in Saturn's high latitude magnetosphere
Hospodarsky, G. B.; Kurth, W. S.; Mitchell, D. G. +5 more
Over the course of about 6 h on Day 129, 2008, the UV imaging spectrograph (UVIS) on the Cassini spacecraft observed a repeated intensification and broadening of the high latitude auroral oval into the polar cap. This feature repeated at least 5 times with about a 1 h period, as it rotated in the direction of corotation, somewhat below the planeta…
Properties of planetward ion flows in Venus' magnetotail
Futaana, Y.; Zhang, T. L.; Rong, Z. J. +3 more
Venus is gradually losing some of its atmosphere in the form of ions through its induced magnetotail. Some of these ions have been reported previously to flow back to the planet. Proposed drivers are magnetic reconnection and deflection of pickup ions in the magnetic field. We analyze protons and oxygen ions with eV to keV energies acquired by the…
Temporal variations of Titan's surface with Cassini/VIMS
Le Mouélic, S.; Rodriguez, S.; Sotin, C. +10 more
We analyze Cassini VIMS data of several areas on Titan's surface looking for variations with time. Three of these locations are near the equator (10-30°S), namely Hotei Regio, Tui Regio and Sotra Patera; in some cases changes in brightness and/or in appearance were reported therein. We also investigate a portion of the undifferentiated plains, are…
In-situ measurements of Saturn's dusty rings based on dust impact signals detected by Cassini RPWS
Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Ye, S. -Y.
The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument can detect dust particles when voltage pulses induced by the dust impacts are observed in the wideband receiver. The size of the voltage pulse is proportional to the mass of the impacting dust particle. In this paper, we show RPWS measurements of dust particles in Saturn's dusty rings. Th…
Saturn's icy satellites investigated by Cassini-VIMS. IV. Daytime temperature maps
Sotin, Christophe; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Clark, Roger N. +13 more
The spectral position of the 3.6 µm continuum peak measured on Cassini-VIMS I/F spectra is used as a marker to infer the temperature of the regolith particles covering the surfaces of Saturn's icy satellites. This feature is characterizing the crystalline water ice spectrum which is the dominant compositional endmember of the satellites' sur…
The tectonics of Titan: Global structural mapping from Cassini RADAR
Kirk, Randolph L.; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Neish, Catherine D. +5 more
The Cassini RADAR mapper has imaged elevated mountain ridge belts on Titan with a linear-to-arcuate morphology indicative of a tectonic origin. Systematic geomorphologic mapping of the ridges in Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) images reveals that the orientation of ridges is globally E-W and the ridges are more common near the equator than the pole…
Themis Regio, Venus: Evidence for recent (?) volcanism from VIRTIS data
Helbert, Joern; Stofan, Ellen R.; Smrekar, Suzanne E. +1 more
Themis Regio is interpreted to be a hotspot rise underlain by one or more mantle plumes. Many volcanic features in the Themis region have high emissivity anomalies in Venus Express Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) data. Other high emissivity anomalies have been found to correspond to volcanic flows interpreted to be relat…