HR: 14:25h
AN: P13C-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Compositional Units on the Mars Surface From the Mars Express HRSC Color Imagery
AU: * McCord, T B
EM: mccordtb@aol.com
AF: Space Science Institute NW, P.O. Box 667 22 Fiddler's Road, Winthrop, WA 98862 United States
AU: Adams, J B
EM: bearfight@methownet.com
AF: Dept. of Earth and Space Sci. University of Washington, P.O. Box 667, Winthrop, WA 98862
AU: Bellucci, G
P13C-04 AF: Istituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere, Rome, 00000 Italy
AU: Hansen, G
EM: ghansen@rad.geology.washington.edu
AF: Dept. of Earth and Space Sci. University of Washington, P.O. Box 667, Winthrop, WA 98862
AU: Hoffman, H
P13C-04 AF: Inst. of Planetary Res. German Aerospace Center, Rutherfordstr. 2, D-12489, Berlin, 00000 Germany
AU: Jaumann, R `
P13C-04 AF: Inst. of Planetary Res. German Aerospace Center, Rutherfordstr. 2, D-12489, Berlin, 00000 Germany
AU: Lumme, K
P13C-04 AF: Dept. of Physical Sci., University of Oulu, Oulu, 00000 Finland
AU: Neukum, G
P13C-04 AF: Inst. of Geosciences, Freie Universitat, Berlin, 00000 Germany
AU: Pinet, P
P13C-04 AF: C.N.R.S., CNRS Center, Toulouse, 00000 France
AU: Poulet, F
P13C-04 AF: Institute d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, 00000 France
AB: The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the Mars Express (MEx) spacecraft in orbit about Mars provides high-resolution imagery in five spectral passbands from near 0.4 μm to about 1 μm that can be used for spectrophotometric analysis. The data allow a variety of studies of the surface and atmosphere of Mars, but considerable understanding of the data characteristics must first be achieved, as there are several affects of the observation geometry and the atmosphere affecting the results. We review our determinations of the characteristics of the HRSC color data and we present several examples of what could become a deluge of future science results utilizing the HRSC spectrophotometric data and in the context of the high spatial resolution landforms. For example, we find relatively few but very important distinct color units at the HRSC resolution, including what we interpret as iron oxide-rich material, unoxidized basalt, salts and water ice. These are distributed on the surface in ways that suggest compositional mixing through melting and flow. Further, surface texture can be detected and used to help discern compositional units and their mixtures. The atmospheric influence on the photometric appearance from space of the surface materials is described and methods of compensating are presented along with reflectance spectra of the surface units with much reduced atmospheric effects.
DE: 5464 Remote sensing
DE: 5470 Surface materials and properties
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005