Publications

The George VI and Wilkins Ice Shelves are considered at risk of disintegration due to a regional atmospheric warming trend on the Antarctic Peninsula. Retreat of the northern margin of the George VI Ice Shelf has been observed previously, but the Wilkins Ice Shelf was thought to be stable. We investigated the positions of the northern fronts of these shelves from the literature and looked for chan

High-resolution Galileo imaging has provided important insight into the origin and evolution of grooved terrain on Ganymede. The Uruk Sulcus target site was the first imaged at high resolution, and considerations of resolution, viewing geometry, low image compression, and complementary stereo imaging make this region extremely informative. Contrast variations in these low-incidence angle images ar

The Galileo Orbiter examined several impact features on Europa at considerably better resolution than was possible from Voyager. The new data allow us to describe the morphology and infer the geology of the largest impact features on Europa, which are probes into the crust. We observe two basic types of large impact features: (1) “classic” impact craters that grossly resemble well-preserved lunar

Chemical analyses returned by Mars Pathfinder indicate that some rocks may be high in silica, implying differentiated parent materials. Rounded pebbles and cobbles and a possible conglomerate suggest fluvial processes that imply liquid water in equilibrium with the atmosphere and thus a warmer and wetter past. The moment of inertia indicates a central metallic core of 1300 to 2000 kilometers in ra

Images of the martian surface returned by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) show a complex surface of ridges and troughs covered by rocks that have been transported and modified by fluvial, aeolian, and impact processes. Analysis of the spectral signatures in the scene (at 440- to 1000-nanometer wavelength) reveal three types of rock and four classes of soil. Upward-looking IMP images of the pr

No abstract available.

We investigate the use of spectral mixture modeling to decompose the integrated spectra of several galaxies. This technique uses a linear combination of template spectra to model over 93% of the variance in Kennicutt's sample of galaxy spectra. One result of our model is a stellar population parameter for each galaxy, which correlates with both star formation rate and the population's mass-to-ligh

We consider plausible reflectivity ranges for candidate Titan surfaces, with application to radar altimeter investigations on both the Cassini Orbiter and Huygens Probe. The appropriate measure of surface scattering is the specific backscatter cross-section at normal incidence or, for smooth surfaces, the specific backscatter averaged over the sensitivity of the altimeter beam pattern. A clean eth

The imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP), a stereoscopic, multispectral camera, is described in terms of its capabilities for studying the Martian environment. The camera's two eyes, separated by 15.0 cm, provide the camera with range‐finding ability. Each eye illuminates half of a single CCD detector with a field of view of 14.4×14.0° and has 12 selectable filters. The ƒ/18 optics have a large depth

No abstract available.

We derived high resolution Digital Terrain Models from stereo images of the asteroid Ida that were obtained by the Galileo spacecraft during the flyby in August 1993 and compared these results with terrain models derived from two-dimensional photoclinometry. The comparison shows that there are striking discrepancies between the results from the two models depending on the spatial scale length of s

The FLOW computer model of McEwen and Malin (1989) modified for application to the study of Venus fluidized ejecta blankets (FEBs) demonstrates that relatively low viscosities, yield strengths, and initial velocities are required to duplicate the observed flow paths of the outflow materials. The model calculates the velocities and simulated flow paths of gravity flows over Magellan topography. The