Publications
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Titan's inventory of organic surface materials
Cassini RADAR observations now permit an initial assessment of the inventory of two classes, presumed to be organic, of Titan surface materials: polar lake liquids and equatorial dune sands. Several hundred lakes or seas have been observed, of which dozens are each estimated to contain more hydrocarbon liquid than the entire known oil and gas reserves on Earth. Dark dunes cover some 20% of Titan's
Authors
Ralph D. Lorenz, Karl L. Mitchell, Randolph L. Kirk, Alexander G. Hayes, Oded Aharonson, Howard A. Zebker, Philipe Paillou, Jani Radebaugh, Jonathan I. Lunine, Michael A. Janssen, Stephen D. Wall, Rosaly M.C. Lopes, Bryan Stiles, Steven J. Ostro, Giuseppe Mitri, Ellen R. Stofan
Dependence of displacement-length scaling relations for fractures and deformation bands on the volumetric changes across them
Displacement–length data from faults, joints, veins, igneous dikes, shear deformation bands, and compaction bands define two groups. The first group, having a power-law scaling relation with a slope of n = 1 and therefore a linear dependence of maximum displacement and discontinuity length (Dmax = γL), comprises faults and shear (non-compactional or non-dilational) deformation bands. These shearin
Authors
Richard A. Schultz, Roger Soliva, Haakon Fossen, Chris Okubo, Donald M. Reeves
Dunes on Titan observed by Cassini Radar
Thousands of longitudinal dunes have recently been discovered by the Titan Radar Mapper on the surface of Titan. These are found mainly within ±30° of the equator in optically-, near-infrared-, and radar-dark regions, indicating a strong proportion of organics, and cover well over 5% of Titan's surface. Their longitudinal duneform, interactions with topography, and correlation with other aeolian f
Authors
J. Radebaugh, R. D. Lorenz, J. I. Lunine, S. D. Wall, G. Boubin, E. Reffet, Randolph L. Kirk, R.M. Lopes, E. R. Stofan, Laurence A. Soderblom, M. Allison, M. Janssen, P. Paillou, P. Callahan, C. Spencer
Correlation of the Deccan and Rajahmundry Trap lavas: Are these the longest and largest lava flows on Earth?
We propose that the Rajahmundry Trap lavas, found near the east coast of peninsular India,are remnants of the longest lava flows yet recognized on Earth (∼ 1000 km long). These outlying Deccan-like lavas are shown to belong to the main Deccan Traps. Several previous studies have already suggested this correlation, but have not demonstrated it categorically. The exposed Rajahmundry lavas are interp
Authors
Stephen Self, Anne E. Jay, Michael Widdowson, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
Summer season variability of the north residual cap of Mars as observed by the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (MGS-TES)
Previous observations have noted the change in albedo in a number of North Pole bright outliers and in the distribution of bright ice deposits between Mariner 9, Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data sets. Changes over the summer season as well as between regions at the same season (Ls) in different years have been observed. We used the bolometric albedo and brightness temperature channels o
Authors
Wendy M. Calvin, Timothy N. Titus
Observations of the north polar water ice annulus on Mars using THEMIS and TES
The Martian seasonal CO2 ice caps advance and retreat each year. In the spring, as the CO2 cap gradually retreats, it leaves behind an extensive defrosting zone from the solid CO2 cap to the location where all CO2 frost has sublimated. We have been studying this phenomenon in the north polar region using data from the THermal EMission Imaging System (THEMIS), a visible and infra-red (IR) camera on
Authors
Kiri L. Wagstaff, Timothy N. Titus, Anton B. Ivanov, Rebecca Castaño, Joshua L. Bandfield
Titan's diverse landscapes as evidenced by Cassini RADAR's third and fourth looks at Titan
Cassini's third and fourth radar flybys, T7 and T8, covered diverse terrains in the high southern and equatorial latitudes, respectively. The T7 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) swath is somewhat more straightforward to understand in terms of a progressive poleward descent from a high, dissected, and partly hilly terrain down to a low flat plain with embayments and deposits suggestive of the past or
Authors
J. I. Lunine, C. Elachi, S. D. Wall, M.A. Janssen, M.D. Allison, Y. Anderson, R. Boehmer, P. Callahan, P. Encrenaz, E. Flamini, G. Franceschetti, Y. Gim, G. Hamilton, S. Hensley, W.T.K. Johnson, K. Kelleher, Randolph L. Kirk, R.M. Lopes, R. Lorenz, D.O. Muhleman, R. Orosei, S.J. Ostro, F. Paganelli, P. Paillou, G. Picardi, F. Posa, J. Radebaugh, L.E. Roth, R. Seu, S. Shaffer, Laurence A. Soderblom, B. Stiles, E. R. Stofan, S. Vetrella, R. West, C. A. Wood, L. Wye, H. Zebker, G. Alberti, E. Karkoschka, B. Rizk, E. McFarlane, C. See, B. Kazeminejad
Composition and origin of the Dewar geochemical anomaly
Dewar crater is a 50-km diameter impact structure located in the highlands northwest of the South Pole–Aitken basin on the lunar farside. A low-albedo area with enhanced Th and Sm values is centered east-northeast of Dewar crater. This area also exhibits elevated FeO abundances (9.0–16.6 wt %) and TiO2 values (0.6–2 wt %). The range of FeO and TiO2 abundances determined for the darkest portions of
Authors
Samuel J. Lawrence, B. Ray Hawke, Jeffrey J. Gillis-Davis, G. Jeffrey Taylor, David J. Lawrence, Joshua T. Cahill, Justin Hagerty, Paul G. Lucey, Gregory A. Smith, Klaus Keil
The imaging performance of the SRC on Mars Express
The Mars Express spacecraft carries the pushbroom scanner high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) and its added imaging subsystem super resolution channel (SRC). The SRC is equipped with its own optical system and a 1024×1024 framing sensor. SRC produces snapshots with 2.3 m ground pixel size from the nominal spacecraft pericenter height of 250 km, which are typically embedded in the central part of
Authors
J. Oberst, G. Schwarz, T. Behnke, H. Hoffmann, K.-D. Matz, J. Flohrer, H. Hirsch, T. Roatsch, F. Scholten, E. Hauber, B. Brinkmann, R. Jaumann, D. Williams, Randolph L. Kirk, T. Duxbury, C. Leu, G. Neukum
Degradation of Victoria crater, Mars
The ∼750 m diameter and ∼75 m deep Victoria crater in Meridiani Planum, Mars, is a degraded primary impact structure retaining a ∼5 m raised rim consisting of 1–2 m of uplifted rocks overlain by ∼3 m of ejecta at the rim crest. The rim is 120–220 m wide and is surrounded by a dark annulus reaching an average of 590 m beyond the raised rim. Comparison between observed morphology and that expected f
Authors
John A. Grant, Sharon A. Wilson, Barbara A. Cohen, Matthew P. Golombek, Paul E. Geissler, Robert J. Sullivan, Randolph L. Kirk, Timothy J. Parker
Seasonally active frost-dust avalanches on a north polar scarp of Mars captured by HiRISE
North-polar temporal monitoring by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) orbiting Mars has discovered new, dramatic examples that Mars1 CO2-dominated seasonal volatile cycle is not limited to quiet deposition and sublimation of frost. In early northern martian spring, 2008, HiRISE captured several cases of CO2 frost and dust cascading down a steep, polar scarp in discrete clouds.
Authors
Patrick S. Russell, Nicolas Thomas, Shane Byrne, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Kathryn E. Fishbaugh, Nathan Bridges, Chris Okubo, Moses P. Milazzo, Ingrid J. Daubar, Candice J. Hansen, Alfred S. McEwen
Recent bright gully deposits on Mars: Wet or dry flow?
Bright gully sediments attributed to liquid water flow have been deposited on Mars within the past several years. To test the liquid water flow hypothesis, we constructed a high-resolution (1 m/pixel) photogrammetric digital elevation model of a crater in the Centauri Montes region, where a bright gully deposit formed between 2001 and 2005. We conducted one-dimensional (1-D) and 2-D numerical flow
Authors
Jon D. Pelletier, Kelly J. Kolb, Alfred S. McEwen, Randolph L. Kirk