Search Publications
Lineated valley fill at the Martian dichotomy boundary: Nature and history of degradation
Neukum, G.; Hauber, E.; van Gasselt, S.
The fretted terrain of the Martian dichotomy boundary is a key region for investigating landforms related to creep of ice and debris as it exhibits landforms comparable to morphologies of periglacial environments. Although features known as lobate debris aprons, lineated valley fills and concentric crater fills have been studied in great detail, b…
Major episodes in the geologic history of western Promethei Terra, Mars
Neukum, G.; Ivanov, M. A.; Korteniemi, J. +3 more
Geologic evolution of the western portion of Promethei Terra (40-50°S, 90-105°E) consists of two major episodes. The first was the formation of a late Noachian-early Hesperian volcanic province. During this episode a kilometer-thick suite (≈0.3 × 106 km3) of lavas accumulated to the south of Reull and Harmakhis Valles within …
Radiative transfer modeling of near-infrared reflectance of lunar highland and mare soils
Cahill, J. T. S.; Lucey, P. G.; Stockstill-Cahill, K. R. +1 more
With near-infrared hyperspectral data sets returned from KAGUYA/SELENE and Chandrayaan-1's Moon Mineralogic Mapper (M3), accurate evaluation and interpretation of lunar data sets with higher spectral resolution has never been more critical. Here we test a new radiative transfer spectral modeling algorithm to determine composition from h…
Martian atmosphere as observed by VIRTIS-M on Rosetta spacecraft
Langevin, Y.; Rauer, H.; Bellucci, G. +46 more
The Rosetta spacecraft accomplished a flyby of Mars on its way to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 25 February 2007. In this paper we describe the measurements obtained by the M channel of the Visual and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS-M) and the first scientific results derived from their analysis. The broad spectral coverage of the VIR…
Asymmetry in the Jovian auroral Lyman-α line profile due to thermospheric high-speed flow
Chaufray, J. -Y.; Clarke, J. T.; Waite, J. H. +1 more
The presence of a fast wind in the auroral region atmosphere of Jupiter has been detected from the Doppler shift in near-IR observations of H3+ emissions. The Doppler effect also modifies auroral resonance emission line shapes. We present a new radiative transfer equation for the hydrogen Lyman-α line in the presence of a hor…
On the mystery of the perennial carbon dioxide cap at the south pole of Mars
Soto, Alejandro; Richardson, Mark Ian; Guo, Xin +1 more
A perennial ice cap has long been observed near the south pole of Mars. The surface of this cap is predominantly composed of carbon dioxide ice. The retention of a CO2 ice cap results from the surface energy balance of the latent heat, solar radiation, surface emission, subsurface conduction, and atmospheric sensible heat. While models …
Chemical composition of simulated Titan's midatmospheric aerosols
Bar-Nun, A.; Dimitrov, V.; Jacovi, R. +1 more
A large fraction of the major unsaturated species (C2H2 C2H4, HCN, and HC3N) with mixing ratios of about 3 × 10-6, 10-7-10-8, 3 × 10-7, and 10-9-10-10 reside in Titan's atmosphere between 150 and 500 km (Vinatier et al., 2009; C…
Suppression of the Rhines effect and the location of vortices on Saturn
Showman, A. P.; Penny, A. B.; Choi, D. S.
Saturn's atmosphere contains numerous vortices that reside predominantly within specific localized latitude bands. Two-dimensional turbulence theory predicts that vortices which do form are readily destroyed as they interact with dispersive Rossby waves in a process called the “Rhines effect,” which acts to organize turbulent energy into alternati…
Identification of hydrated silicate minerals on Mars using MRO-CRISM: Geologic context near Nili Fossae and implications for aqueous alteration
Murchie, Scott L.; Ehlmann, Bethany L.; Mustard, John F. +9 more
The Noachian terrain west of the Isidis basin hosts a diverse collection of alteration minerals in rocks comprising varied geomorphic units within a 100,000 km2 region in and near the Nili Fossae. Prior investigations in this region by the Observatoire pour l'Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activité (OMEGA) instrument on Mars Expre…
Density and temperatures of the upper Martian atmosphere measured by stellar occultations with Mars Express SPICAM
Montmessin, Franck; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; González-Galindo, Francisco +6 more
We present one Martian year of observations of the density and temperature in the upper atmosphere of Mars (between 60 and 130 km) obtained by the Mars Express ultraviolet spectrometer Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM). Six hundred sixteen profiles were retrieved using stellar occultations techniq…