Radar subsurface sounding over the putative frozen sea in Cerberus Palus, Mars

Author

Orosei, R. ; Cartacci, M. ; Cicchetti, A. ; Noschese, R. ; Federico, C. ; Frigeri, A. ; Flamini, E. ; Holt, J.W. ; Marinangeli, L. ; Pettinelli, E. ; Phillips, R.J. ; Picardi, G. ; Seu, R. ; Plaut, J.J.

Author_Institution

Ist. Naz. di Astrofis., Ist. di Fis. dello Spazio Interplanetario, Rome, Italy

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

The area of Mars known as Cerberus Palus, suspected of harboring a frozen body of water, has been observed by the two subsurface sounding radar MARSIS and SHARAD. SHARAD data reveal subsurface interfaces at depths ranging from ~50 m to ~150 m which could be interpreted as either the bottom of an ice sheet lying over bedrock, or an interface between two lava flows. Echoes have been analyzed to estimate the dielectric properties of the surface layer, and results favor the interpretation that no ice is present in the area.

Keywords

Mars; ground penetrating radar; planetary surfaces; remote sensing by radar; Cerberus Palus; MARSIS observations; Mars; SHARAD observations; dielectric properties; frozen sea; ground penetrating radar; ice sheet; lava flows; radar subsurface sounding; Airborne radar; Dielectric losses; Ice; Mars; Radar scattering; Radar tracking; Rough surfaces; Sea surface; Surface roughness; Surface topography; Mars; dielectric permittivity; ground penetrating radar; ice; lava flow; loss tangent;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), 2010 13th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Lecce

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4604-9

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4605-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICGPR.2010.5550143

Filename

5550143