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First HiRISE Image of Mars: …
title First HiRISE Image of Mars: Topographic Model from Photoclinometry
Description http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS, This is a topographic map of part of the area covered by the first image of Mars obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The image was processed at the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, by a technique called photoclinometry (or, more descriptively, "shape-from-shading"). This method allows elevations to be reconstructed from a single image by noting how surfaces sloping toward the sun appear brighter than areas that slope away from it. This image is almost ideal for such interpretation because the low sun angle reveals even subtle slopes with dramatic contrast, and variations in the brightness of surface materials (which could be confused with slopes) are minimal. At left is the region of the image that was analyzed, tinted to approximate the visual appearance of the Martian surface. This region is a square 20.4 kilometers (12.7 miles) wide (8,192 pixels by 8,192 pixels at a scale of 2.49 meters or 8.17 feet per pixel). At right is a color-coded topographic contour map of the same area. The total range of elevations is 1.6 kilometers (1 mile), with low areas shown in purple and high areas in red. Contours mark each 20-meter (66-foot) change in elevation. Photoclinometry gives relative rather than absolute heights, but the overall height and shape of features in this map, such as the ridge Ogygis Rupes in the center, agree reasonably well with results from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, an instrument with high absolute accuracy but relatively low spatial resolution. The real value of mapping by photoclinometry, however, is that it reveals the details of the smallest topographic features resolved by the image. In this example, the image was resampled by a factor of 2 before processing, so the topographic map has a scale of 5 meters (16 feet) per pixel and resolves features as small as 15 meters (49 feet). Computer-generated three-dimensional close-ups of the surface provide one way to visualize these small but important clues to Martian geologic history. This illustration shows a subset of AEB_000001_0000_Red, which was taken by the HiRISE camera on March 24, 2006. The image is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,493 kilometers (1,549 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.49 meters (8.17 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) are resolved. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:33 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 78.1 degrees, thus the sun was about 11.9 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at:
Another Kelvin Wave Strenght …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
In the Pacific Ocean around …
ssh_jas_2006324
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-11-20
creator NASA -- NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team.
identifier ssh_jas_2006324
Warm Ocean Temperatures Blan …
PIA00556
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Warm Ocean Temperatures Blanket the Far-Western Pacific
Original Caption Released with Image These data, taken during a 10-day collection cycle ending March 9, 2001, show that above-normal sea-surface heights and warmer ocean temperatures(indicated by the red and white areas) still blanket the far-western tropical Pacific and much of the north (and south) mid-Pacific. Red areas are about 10centimeters (4 inches) above normal, white areas show the sea-surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal. This build-up of heat dominating the Western Pacific was first noted by TOPEX/Poseidon oceanographers more than two years ago and has outlasted the El Niño and La Niña events of the past few years. See: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/990127.html . This warmth contrasts with the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska and tropical Pacific where lower-than-normal sea levels and cool ocean temperatures continue (indicated by blue areas). The blue areas are between 5 and 13centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. Actually, the near-equatorial ocean cooled through the fall of 2000 and into mid-winter and continues almost La Niña-like. Looking at the entire Pacific basin, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation's warm horseshoe and cool wedge pattern still dominates this sea-level height image. Most recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea-surface temperature data also clearly illustrate the persistence of this basin-wide pattern. They are available at http://psbsgi1.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/PSB/EPS/SST/climo.html The U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For more information on the TOPEX/Poseidon project, see: http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov
She's Back? La Niña Developi …
PIA03665
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title She's Back? La Niña Developing?
Original Caption Released with Image The tropical Pacific Ocean is beginning to exhibit the characteristics of a developing La Niña condition. This image shows that the gradual cooling of the central equatorial Pacific over the past few months is continuing and the area of low sea level (shown in blue) has decreased (cooled) slightly over last few months. It is still uncertain, scientists say, that this cold pool will evolve into a long-lasting, strong La Niña situation. For a complete discussion of this evolving situation and potential implications see: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2559.htm [ http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2559.htm ]. This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea-surface height measurements taken by the U.S.-French Jason satellite. The image shows sea surface height relative to normal ocean conditions on December 31, 2005, these sea surface heights are an indicator of the changing amount of heat stored in the ocean. The purple areas in this image are about 18 centimeters (7 inches) below normal, creating a deficit in the heat supply to the surface waters. The white areas show the sea surface is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal, in the red areas, it's about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The green areas indicate normal conditions. A La Niña situation is essentially the opposite of an El Niño condition. During La Niña, the trade winds are stronger than normal and the cold water that normally exists along the coast of South America extends to the central equatorial Pacific. A La Niña reappears every three to five years and, if the present event strengthens, it will certainly reorganize global weather patterns. The U.S. portion of the Jason mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Science Mission Directorate to better understand and protect our home planet.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Distributory Fan Near Holden …
PIA04869
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.
Possible Landing Ellipses fo …
PIA09946
Sol (our sun)
Context Camera (CTX)
Title Possible Landing Ellipses for Phoenix
Original Caption Released with Image Annotated Version Launch date makes a difference in the orientation of ellipses marking where NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will have a high probability of landing, given the planned targeting for the spring 2008 landing site. This map shows possible landing ellipses for the Aug. 3, 2007, opening of the launch period (the ellipse oriented northwest to southeast) and for launch dates at the middle and end of the three-week period of launch opportunities. The map also shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units -- categories based on the surface textures and contours. The yellow-coded area surrounding a crater informally named "Heimdall" appears to have even fewer boulders on the surface than other units. The geomorphic mapping is overlaid on a shaded relief map based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The red box indicates the location of an image PIA09947 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09947 ] from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Possible Landing Ellipses fo …
PIA09946
Sol (our sun)
Context Camera (CTX)
Title Possible Landing Ellipses for Phoenix
Original Caption Released with Image Annotated Version Launch date makes a difference in the orientation of ellipses marking where NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will have a high probability of landing, given the planned targeting for the spring 2008 landing site. This map shows possible landing ellipses for the Aug. 3, 2007, opening of the launch period (the ellipse oriented northwest to southeast) and for launch dates at the middle and end of the three-week period of launch opportunities. The map also shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units -- categories based on the surface textures and contours. The yellow-coded area surrounding a crater informally named "Heimdall" appears to have even fewer boulders on the surface than other units. The geomorphic mapping is overlaid on a shaded relief map based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The red box indicates the location of an image PIA09947 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09947 ] from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Far-Northern Destination for …
PIA09944
Sol (our sun)
MOLA
Title Far-Northern Destination for Phoenix Mars Lander
Original Caption Released with Image The planned landing site for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander lies at a latitude on Mars equivalent to northern Alaska on Earth. It is within the region designated "D" on this global image. This is an orthographic projection with color-coded elevation contours and shaded relief based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Total vertical relief is about 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the top of the highest volcano (red) to the northern lowlands (blue). North pole is where the longitude lines converge.
Topographical Context of Pho …
PIA09945
Sol (our sun)
MOLA
Title Topographical Context of Phoenix Landing Region
Original Caption Released with Image Color coding indicates the topography in this map of the region of Mars from 65 to 72 degrees north latitude and from 230 to 250 degrees east longitude. This area was designated "Region D" in the process of evaluating potential landing sites for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The location chosen for safe landing sites is within the box bordered with a heavy black line along the western boundary of this region. Elevation in the region varies from about 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) to 4,400 meters (14,400 feet) below the zero reference point for Martian surface elevation. The topographical information is from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …
PIA09190
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
TOPEX/El Niño Watch - Strong …
PIA02935
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX/El Niño Watch - Strong, Long-lasting La Niña Just Fading Away, June 19, 2000
Original Caption Released with Image ."Let's not forget that the legacy of two years of La Niña will be with us this summer and into the fall," said JPL oceanographer Dr. William Patzert. "Much of the nation's farmland is really dry in many regions. The reality is that the atmosphere is still acting as though La Niña remains." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service has forecasted continuing drought for much of the midwestern and southeastern United States and an active hurricane season for our coming summer. NOAA seasonal forecasts can be found at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov [ http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov ] . The U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by JPL for the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For more information on the TOPEX/Poseidon project, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ], After dominating the tropical Pacific Ocean for more than two years, the 1998-2000 La Niña "cool pool" is continuing its slow fade and seems to be retiring from the climate stage, according to the latest satellite data from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission. These data, taken during a 10-day cycle of collection ending June 9, show that the equatorial Pacific continues to warm up and is returning to normal (green) as this latest, persistent, two-year La Niña episode is coming to an end. Only a few patches of cooler, lower sea levels (seen in blue and purple) remain across the tropics. It should be noted that in June 1999, La Niña barely had a pulse, but was resuscitated in fall 1999. (See June 1999 press release on that topic at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/990629.html [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/990629.html ] .) The blue areas are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. In the far-western tropical Pacific Ocean, the ocean remains higher and warmer than normal. In summary, it appears that the global climate system is finally emerging from the past three years of dramatic swings from the extra-large El Niño of 1997/1998, which was followed by two unusually cool and persistent La Niña years, according to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But as the northern hemisphere summer begins, above-normal sea surface heights and warmer ocean temperatures (indicated by the red and white areas) still blanket the western equatorial Pacific and much of the north and south mid-Pacific. Red areas are about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal, white areas show the sea surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal. This contrasts with the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska region southward along the western coast of North America, where lower-than-normal sea levels and cool ocean temperatures continue, although this pattern is also weakening. A possible switch in this larger-than-El Niño/La Niña, slower-changing pattern -- the Pacific Decadal Oscillation -- was first noticed by many scientists in late 1998. See a January 2000 press release on that topic at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/20000118.html [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/20000118.html ] , or for further information and graphics about the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/discover/PDO.html [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/discover/PDO.html ]
TOPEX El Niño/La Niña - Enti …
PIA01528
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX El Niño/La Niña - Entire Pacific is out of Whack, April 7, 1999
Original Caption Released with Image New sea surface height measurements from the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite show that the sea level and temperature of the entire Pacific is "out of balance," including a large area of abnormally cool water along the west coast of North America that scientists say will influence regional weather patterns along the west coast of the Americas this summer. Southern California's seasonal "June gloom" weather, caused by a marine layer that traps smog over the Los Angeles basin, may linger throughout the summer as a result, according to oceanographer Dr. William Patzert of JPL. "Our data certainly show that the unusual oceanic climatic conditions that gave rise to El Niño and La Niña are not returning to a normal state." he said. "Our planet's climate system continues to exhibit rather wild behavior. These large warm and cold, high and low sea levels are slow-developing and long-lasting, and will certainly influence global climate and weather for the coming summer and into next fall." The unusually cool water (areas of lower sea level shown in blue and purple) extends from the Gulf of Alaska along the North American coast, sweeping south-westward from Baja California, where it merges with the remnants of La Niña. The La Niña phenomenon's cool, lower sea levels across the equator continue to weaken and break into (purple) patches. The northwest Pacific continues to be warmer than normal, though the variations from normal are not as great as in recent months. Areas where the Pacific Ocean is normal appear in green. The data represented in the image were collected from May 12-22. TOPEX/Poseidon's sea-surface height measurements have provided scientists with a detailed view of the 1998-99 La Niña and the 1997-98 El Niño because the satellite's altimeter measures the changing sea-surface height with unprecedented precision. In this image, the purple areas are about 18 centimeters (7 inches) below normal, creating a deficit in the heat supply to the surface waters. The white areas show the sea surface is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal, in the red areas, it's about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA s Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. For more information, please visit the TOPEX/Poseidon project web page at http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov
TOPEX/El Niño Watch - Los Ni …
PIA02969
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX/El Niño Watch - Los Niños may be Gone, But Pacific Pattern Remains August 14, 2000
Original Caption Released with Image After three years of El Niño and La Niña with their often devastating climate consequences, the Pacific is finally calming down in the tropics but still shows signs of being abnormal elsewhere, according to the latest satellite data from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission. These data, taken during a 10-day cycle of collection ending August 17, show that tropical Pacific sea levels, which indicate how much heat is stored in the ocean, have returned to near-normal (green) after three years of dramatic fluctuations. See http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/ . But as summer ends in the Northern Hemisphere, remnants of the past few years remain embedded in the upper ocean. Above-normal sea surface heights and warmer ocean temperatures (indicated by the red and white areas) still blanket the far-western tropical Pacific and much of the north (and south) mid-Pacific. Red areas are about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal, white areas show the sea surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal. This contrasts with the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska where lower-than-normal sea levels and cool ocean temperatures continue (indicated by blue areas), although this pattern is also weakening. The blue areas are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. Looking at the entire Pacific basin, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation's (PDO) characteristic warm horseshoe and cool wedge pattern is still evident in this sea-level height image. The PDO is a long-term ocean temperature fluctuation of the Pacific Ocean that waxes and wanes approximately every 10 to 20 years. Most recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea-surface temperature date also clearly illustrate the persistence of this basin-wide pattern. They are available at: http://psbsgi1.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/PSB/EPS/SST/climo.html."The present calming started three to four months ago when the La Niña faded away," said oceanographer Dr. William Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "It appears that the global climate system is finally recovering from the past three years of dramatic swings from the extra-large El Niño of 1997/1998, which was followed by two unusually cool and persistent La Niña years.""The good news is that we're finally out from under the El Niño and La Niña of the past three years," Patzert said. "Unfortunately, in the longer term, the reality is that the PDO pattern still dominates the Pacific and, in the short term, the atmosphere is still acting as though La Niña remains. The western United States continues hot and dry, and a larger than normal number of hurricanes are forecast by NOAA for both the Pacific and the Atlantic. Also for the remainder of the summer and into the fall, we are continuing to experience the legacy or hangover from El Niño and La Niña -- the devastating Western U.S. fires from the, Canadian to Mexican borders are one example." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service has forecasted continuing heat in the Western United States and an active hurricane season for the end of summer and into the fall. NOAA seasonal forecasts can be found at: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov. This month marks the eighth anniversary of the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon, a mission that had been planned to last only three to five years. The satellite has orbited Earth more than 37,400 times and completed 290 10-day data collection cycles. More than 99 percent of all available mission data has been collected and archived by the operations team at JPL. The U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by JPL for the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For more information on the TOPEX/Poseidon project, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ]
Warm Pacific Water Wave Head …
PIA06751
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Warm Pacific Water Wave Heads East, But No El Niño Yet
Original Caption Released with Image Recent sea-level height data from the U.S./France Jason altimetric satellite during a 10-day cycle ending July 27, 2004, show that weaker than normal trade winds in the western and central equatorial Pacific during June have triggered an eastward moving, warm Kelvin wave. In the central equatorial Pacific, this "warm wave" appears as the large area of higher-than-normal sea surface heights (warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures) between 180 degrees W and 130 degrees W. These types of events, should they continue and persist into the fall, can herald the beginnings of an El Niño episode. "Although an El Niño would be welcome in the American west which definitely needs the rainfall, it's way too early to even begin talking about a possible El Niño," said JPL oceanographer Dr. Bill Patzert. "Scientists will continue to monitor the Pacific closely for further signs of possible El Niño formation and intensity," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, JPL Jason Project Scientist. The image shows a red area in the central equatorial Pacific that is about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. These regions contrast with the eastern equatorial Pacific, where lower-than-normal sea levels (blue areas) continue that are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal. Along the equator, the red sea surface heights equate to sea surface temperature departures greater than one degree Celsius (two degrees Fahrenheit). These images show sea surface height anomalies with the seasonal cycle (the effects of summer, fall, winter, and spring) removed. The differences between what we see and what is normal for different times and regions are called anomalies, or residuals. When oceanographers and climatologists view these "anomalies" they can identify unusual patterns and can tell us how heat is being stored in the ocean to influence future planetary climate events. Each image is a 10-day average of data, ending on the date indicated. The U.S. portion of the Jason mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. To view the latest Jason-1 data see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ ].
TOPEX/El Niño Watch - La Niñ …
PIA01526
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX/El Niño Watch - La Niña Hangs On, February 27, 1999
Original Caption Released with Image Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA., The cold pool of water in the Pacific known as "La Niña" still persists, although it is slowly weakening, according to scientists studying new data from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. A new image, produced using sea-surface height measurements taken by the satellite, is available on the Internet at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/. It shows sea-surface height on February 27, 1999 relative to normal ocean conditions, reflecting the heat content of the ocean. The low sea level or cold pool of water along the equator (shown in purple and blue), commonly referred to as La Niña, still dominates the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This La Niña, which first appeared in May through June 1998, still persists, although it is slowly weakening, scientists say. Given its persistence and present strength, the ocean cooling trend is expected to continue to exert a strong influence on global climate systems throughout the spring and into the early summer. This situation is similar to the 1997-1998 El Niño, which extended into early summer 1998. The world's oceans are the great reservoirs of heat that influence global climate because they can cool or heat the atmosphere above. This transfer of heat drives weather patterns across both land and sea. La Niña provides a physical link connecting the large, slow changes in the ocean with predictable changes in day-to-day weather."La Niña shifts the high-altitude weather highway known as the jet stream," said Dr. William Patzert, an oceanographer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It funnels storm tracks to the Pacific Northwest, which has resulted in heavy rainfall and lots of snow in that region so far, as well as the upper Midwest. Much of the Southwest, by contrast, has been shielded from stormy weather and, as a result, has received significantly less precipitation than normal to date. This year's La Niña was average in its intensity, but at its peak, it was associated with a 15 to 20-centimeter deep trough (6 to 8 inches) in the central tropical Pacific," Patzert said. "The depression was correlated with a 2 to 3-degree Centigrade (about 3.5 to 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit) dip in normal ocean surface temperatures." The image also shows that the very large, unusual area of higher or warmer water (shown here in red and white) in the western Pacific Ocean, from the tropics to the Gulf of Alaska, continues to expand. Although the appearance of this feature is not fully understood, it is recognized as influential to overall weather and climate. The white areas in the image indicate that the sea-surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal, in the red areas, sea-surface height is about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The green areas indicate normal conditions. The purple areas are between 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal, and the blue areas are between 5 to 13 centimeters (2 to 5 inches) below normal. The TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by the Jet
TOPEX/El Niño Watch - La Niñ …
PIA01586
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX/El Niño Watch - La Niña Barely Has a Pulse, June 18, 1999
Original Caption Released with Image Lingering just a month ago in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the La Niña phenomenon, with its large volume of chilly water, barely has a pulse this month, according to new satellite data from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission. The data, taken during a 10-day cycle of data collection ending June 18, show that the equatorial Pacific Ocean is warming up and returning to normal (green) as La Niña all but vanishes. The warming trend is most apparent in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, where only a few patches of cooler, low sea levels (seen in blue and purple) remain. The blue areas are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. Like its counterpart, El Niño, a La Niña condition will influence global climate and weather until it has completely subsided. As summer begins in the northern hemisphere, lower-than-normal sea surface levels and cool ocean temperatures persist in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska and along the western coast of North America. In contrast, the trend is the opposite over most of the Pacific, where above-normal sea surface heights and warmer ocean temperatures (indicated by the red and white areas) appear to be increasing and dominating the overall Pacific Ocean. Red areas are about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal, white areas show the sea surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 and 13 inches) above normal. Scientists are not ready to administer last rites to La Niña, though. In the last 12 months, the pool of unusually cold water in the Pacific has shrunk (warmed) several times before cooling (expanding) again. This summer's altimeter data will help them determine whether La Niña has truly dissipated or whether they will see another resurgence of cool water in the Pacific. The TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. For more information, please visit the TOPEX/Poseidon project web page at http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Pacific Shows Signs of Morph …
PIA09208
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Pacific Shows Signs of Morphing From Warm El Nino To Cool La Nina
Original Caption Released with Image New data of sea-level heights from early February, 2007, by the Jason altimetric satellite show that the tropical Pacific Ocean has transitioned from a warm (El Niño) to a cool (La Niña) condition during the prior two months. The beginnings of a possible La Niña are indicated by the blue area (in the center of the image along the equator) of lower than normal sea level (cold water). It is not certain yet if this current cooling trend will eventually evolve into a long-lasting, well-developed La Niña. "La Niña could send an already parched Western United States to its knees," said JPL oceanographer Dr. Bill Patzert. "In the Southwest, we call La Niña the little lady with the big dry punch." A La Niña situation often follows an El Niño episode and is essentially the opposite of an El Niño condition. During a La Nina, trade winds are stronger than normal, and the cold water that normally exists along the coast of South America extends to the central equatorial Pacific. A La Niña situation changes global weather patterns and is associated with less moisture in the air, resulting in less rain along the coasts of North and South America. Jason will continue to track this developing switch in the climate. This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea-surface height measurements taken by the U.S.-French Jason satellite. The image is based on the average of 10 days of data centered on February 12, 2007, compared to the long-term average of observations from 1993 through 2005. In this image, places where the Pacific sea surface height is higher (warmer) than normal are yellow and red, and places where the sea surface is lower (cooler) than normal are blue and purple. Green shows where conditions are near normal. Sea-surface height is an indicator of the heat content of the upper ocean. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. portion of the U.S./French Jason mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. For more information on NASA's ocean surface topography missions, see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] or to view the latest Jason data see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ ].
Pacific Dictates Droughts an …
PIA05071
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Pacific Dictates Droughts and Drenchings
Original Caption Released with Image The latest remote sensing data from NASA's Jason satellite show that the equatorial Pacific sea surface levels are higher, indicating warmer sea surface temperatures in the central and west Pacific Ocean. This pattern has the appearance of La Niña rather than El Niño. This contrasts with the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska and U.S. West Coast where lower-than-normal sea surface levels and cool ocean temperatures continue (indicated by blue and purple areas). The image above is a global map of sea surface height, accurate to within 30 millimeters. The image represents data collected and composited over a 10-day period, ending on Jan 23, 2004. The height of the water relates to the temperature of the water. As the ocean warms, its level rises, and as it cools, its level falls. Yellow and red areas indicate where the waters are relatively warmer and have expanded above sea level, green indicates near normal sea level, and blue and purple areas show where the waters are relatively colder and the surface is lower than sea level. The blue areas are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. The Jason satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. (For more details, visit the Jason Website [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ].) The joint U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on Topex/Poseidon, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov.
Jason Celebrates 5th Anniver …
PIA09038
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Jason Celebrates 5th Anniversary as El Niño Builds, Warm Kelvin Wave Surges Toward South America
Original Caption Released with Image Recent sea-level height data from the Jason-1 altimetric satellite show that continuing weaker-than-normal trade winds in the western and central equatorial Pacific have triggered another strong, eastward moving, warm Kelvin wave. In the eastern equatorial Pacific, this "warm wave" appears as the large area of higher-than-normal sea surface heights (warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures) between 140 degrees W and 110 degrees W. A series of these types of events that began in August 2006 have contributed to the present El Niño condition. ?In the American west where we are struggling under drought conditions, we welcome this modest, potentially rain-delivering El Niño,? said JPL oceanographer Dr. Bill Patzert. "The Jason-1 measurements are being used by several teams of international scientists to study the physics of El Niño to improve our ability to predict future events," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, JPL Jason-1 project scientist. This image was created with data collected by the U.S./French satellite during a 10-day period centered on November 20, 2007. It shows a red area in the eastern equatorial Pacific that is about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. These regions contrast with the western equatorial Pacific, where lower-than-normal sea levels (blue areas) continue that are between 5 and 13 centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal. Along the equator, the red sea surface heights equate to sea surface temperature departures greater than one to two degrees Celsius (two to four degrees Fahrenheit). This Jason-1 image shows sea surface height anomalies with the seasonal cycle (the effects of summer, fall, winter, and spring) and trend removed. The differences between what we see and what is normal for different times and regions are called anomalies, or residuals. When oceanographers and climatologists view these "anomalies" they can identify unusual patterns and can tell us how heat is being stored in the ocean to influence future planetary climate events. The U.S. portion of the Jason-1 mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason-1 and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Science Mission Directorate to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on NASA's ocean surface topography missions, see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] or to view the latest Jason data see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ ].
NASA Data Helps Track Heat P …
PIA06342
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title NASA Data Helps Track Heat Potential Fueling Rita
Original Caption Released with Image Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential (TCHP) field in the Gulf of Mexico during September 22, 2005. The path of Hurricane Rita is indicated with circles spaced every 3 hours with their size and color representing intensity (see legend). This hurricane intensified to category 5 as it traveled over the Loop Current and a warm core ring (the finger of red and yellow). Rita diminished to category 3 as its path went over a region of lower TCHP (and cooler waters) outside the Loop Current and ring. The diamonds indicate the National Hurricane Center predicted track and intensity as it makes landfall, and are spaced by 24 hours. Altimeter data on NASA's Jason-1, the US Navy's GFO, and the European Envisat satellites provide sea surface height data used in generating the TCHP fields. The Jason satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. The joint U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on Topex/Poseidon, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ].)
Interpreting Radar View near …
PIA09076
Sol (our sun)
Shallow Subsurface Radar (SH …
Title Interpreting Radar View near Mars' South Pole, Orbit 1334
Original Caption Released with Image A radargram from the Shallow Subsurface Radar instrument (SHARAD) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in the upper-right panel and reveals detailed structure in the polar layered deposits of the south pole of Mars. The sounding radar collected the data presented here during orbit 1334 of the mission, on Nov. 8, 2006. The horizontal scale in the radargram is distance along the ground track. It can be referenced to the ground track map shown in the lower right. The radar traversed from about 75 to 85 degrees south latitude, or about 590 kilometers (370 miles). The ground track map shows elevation measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Green indicates low elevation, reddish-white indicates higher elevation. The traverse proceeds up onto a plateau formed by the layers. The vertical scale on the radargram is time delay of the radar signals reflected back to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the surface and subsurface. For reference, using an assumed velocity of the radar waves in the subsurface, time is converted to depth below the surface at one place: about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) to one of the deeper subsurface reflectors. The color scale varies from black for weak reflections to white for strong reflections. The middle panel shows mapping of the major subsurface reflectors, some of which can be traced for a distance of 100 kilometers (60 miles) or more. The layers are not all horizontal and the reflectors are not always parallel to one another. Some of this is due to variations in surface elevation, which produce differing velocity path lengths for different reflector depths. However, some of this behavior is due to spatial variations in the deposition and removal of material in the layered deposits, a result of the recent climate history of Mars. The Shallow Subsurface Radar was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Interpreting Radar View near …
PIA09075
Sol (our sun)
Shallow Subsurface Radar (SH …
Title Interpreting Radar View near Mars' South Pole, Orbit 1360
Original Caption Released with Image A radargram from the Shallow Subsurface Radar instrument (SHARAD) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in the upper-right panel and reveals detailed structure in the polar layered deposits of the south pole of Mars. The sounding radar collected the data presented here during orbit 1360 of the mission, on Nov. 10, 2006. The horizontal scale in the radargram is distance along the ground track. It can be referenced to the ground track map shown in the lower right. The radar traversed from about 74 degrees to 85 degrees south latitude, or about 650 kilometers (400 miles). The ground track map shows elevation measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Green indicates low elevation, reddish-white indicates higher elevation. The traverse proceeds up onto a plateau formed by the layers. The vertical scale on the radargram is time delay of the radar signals reflected back to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the surface and subsurface. For reference, using an assumed velocity of the radar waves in the subsurface, time is converted to depth below the surface at one place: about 800 meters (2,600 feet) to one of the strongest subsurface reflectors. This reflector marks the base of the polar layered deposits. The color scale varies from black for weak reflections to white for strong reflections. The middle panel shows mapping of the major subsurface reflectors, some of which can be traced for a distance of 100 kilometers (60 miles) or more. The layering manifests the recent climate history of Mars, recorded by the deposition and removal of ice and dust. The Shallow Subsurface Radar was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
TOPEX El Niño/La Niña -La Ni …
PIA00031
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title TOPEX El Niño/La Niña -La Niña Begins to Fade, April 7, 1999
Original Caption Released with Image The cold pool of water in the Pacific known as "La Niña" is beginning to fade, but ocean conditions have not returned to normal, according to scientists studying new images from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. New imagery of sea-surface heights taken this month by the ocean-observing satellite show cooler temperatures and lower sea levels across the equatorial Pacific Ocean (seen in blue and purple in the center of the image) are diminishing, which indicates that the equatorial Pacific is slowly returning to normal. However, in the north and south Pacific Ocean, temperatures and sea level remain high (seen in red and white), a pattern that began many months ago. In a nutshell, this means that although La Niña is fading, heat distribution in the Pacific Ocean remains dramatically out of balance. The TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA s Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. For more information, please visit the TOPEX/Poseidon project web page at http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov
Rita Roars Through a Warm Gu …
PIA06428
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Rita Roars Through a Warm Gulf (September 21, 2005)
Original Caption Released with Image This sea surface height map of the Gulf of Mexico, with the Florida peninsula on the right and the Texas-Mexico Gulf Coast on the left, is based on altimeter data from four satellites including NASA?s Topex/Poseidon and Jason. Red indicates a strong circulation of much warmer waters, which can feed energy to a hurricane. This area stands 35 to 60 centimeters (about 13 to 23 inches) higher than the surrounding waters of the Gulf. The actual track of a hurricane is primarily dependent upon steering winds, which are forecasted through the use of atmospheric models. However, the interaction of the hurricane with the upper ocean is the primary source of energy for the storm. Hurricane intensity is therefore greatly affected by the upper ocean temperature structure and can exhibit explosive growth over warm ocean currents and eddies. Eddies are currents of water that run contrary to the direction of the main current. According to the forecasted track through the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Rita will continue crossing the warm waters of a Gulf of Mexico circulation feature called the Loop Current and then pass near a warm-water eddy called the Eddy Vortex, located in the north central Gulf, south of Louisiana. The Jason satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. The joint U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on Topex/Poseidon, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ].)
Rita Roars Through a Warm Gu …
PIA06427
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Rita Roars Through a Warm Gulf (September 22, 2005)
Original Caption Released with Image This sea surface height map of the Gulf of Mexico, with the Florida peninsula on the right and the Texas-Mexico Gulf Coast on the left, is based on altimeter data from four satellites including NASA?s Topex/Poseidon and Jason. Red indicates a strong circulation of much warmer waters, which can feed energy to a hurricane. This area stands 35 to 60 centimeters (about 13 to 23 inches) higher than the surrounding waters of the Gulf. The actual track of a hurricane is primarily dependent upon steering winds, which are forecasted through the use of atmospheric models. However, the interaction of the hurricane with the upper ocean is the primary source of energy for the storm. Hurricane intensity is therefore greatly affected by the upper ocean temperature structure and can exhibit explosive growth over warm ocean currents and eddies. Eddies are currents of water that run contrary to the direction of the main current. According to the forecasted track through the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Rita will continue crossing the warm waters of a Gulf of Mexico circulation feature called the Loop Current and then pass near a warm-water eddy called the Eddy Vortex, located in the north central Gulf, south of Louisiana. The Jason satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. The joint U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on Topex/Poseidon, see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov ].)
Wilma's Trek Through Warm Ca …
PIA03055
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Wilma's Trek Through Warm Caribbean/Gulf Waters
Original Caption Released with Image This sea surface height map of the Gulf of Mexico and the northwestern Caribbean Sea, with the Florida peninsula on the upper right, is based on altimeter data from three satellites including NASA's Jason-1. Red indicates a strong circulation of much warmer waters, which can feed energy to a hurricane. This area stands 35 to 45 centimeters (about 13 to 17 inches) higher than the surrounding waters of the Gulf. The actual track of a hurricane is primarily dependent upon steering winds, which are forecasted through the use of atmospheric models. However, the interaction of the hurricane with the upper ocean is the primary source of energy for the storm. Hurricane intensity is therefore greatly affected by the upper ocean temperature structure and can exhibit explosive growth over warm ocean currents and eddies. According to the forecasted track through the Yucatan Channel, Hurricane Wilma will cross the Yucatan Peninsula and then turn sharply to the northeast, passing over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico circulation feature called the Loop Current on its way towards southeast Florida. The storm may intensify as it passes over the warm water of the Loop Current. The Jason-1 satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. The joint U.S.-French Jason-1 mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason-1 and other space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on Jason-1, see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov ].)
Interpreting Radar View near …
PIA09074
Sol (our sun)
Shallow Subsurface Radar (SH …
Title Interpreting Radar View near Mars' North Pole, Orbit 1512
Original Caption Released with Image A radargram from the Shallow Subsurface Radar instrument (SHARAD) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in the upper-right panel and reveals detailed structure in the polar layered deposits of the north pole of Mars (with blowups shown in the upper-left panels). The sounding radar collected the data presented here during orbit 1512 of the mission, on Nov. 22, 2006. The horizontal scale in the radargram is distance along the ground track. It can be referenced to the ground track map shown in the lower right. The radar traversed from about 83.5 degrees to 80.5 degrees north latitude, or about 180 kilometers (110 miles). The ground track map shows elevation measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Green indicates low elevation, reddish-white indicates higher elevation. The traverse is from the high elevation of the plateau formed by the layers to the lowlands below. The vertical scale on the radargram is time delay of the radar signals reflected back to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the surface and subsurface. For reference, using an assumed velocity of the radar waves in the subsurface, time is converted to depth below the surface in two places: about 600 meters (2,000 feet) to the lowest of an upper series of bright reflectors and about 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) to the base of the polar layered deposits. The color scale of the radargram varies from black for weak reflections to bright yellow for strong reflections. The lower-left panel is a image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on Mars Global Surveyor showing exposed polar layering in the walls of a canyon near the north pole. The layering is divided into a finely structured upper unit (labeled "Upper PLD") and less-well-defined stratigraphy in the lower unit (labeled "Lower PLD"). The radargram clearly reveals the complexity of the layering in the upper unit, additional reflections from the lower unit, and the base of the entire stack of layered deposits. The layering manifests the recent climate history of Mars, recorded by the deposition and removal of ice and dust. The Shallow Subsurface Radar was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Jason Satellite Observes Mil …
PIA01939
Sol (our sun)
Altimeter
Title Jason Satellite Observes Mild El Nino in 2006
Original Caption Released with Image In September 2006, NASA satellite data indicated that El Niño had returned to the tropical Pacific Ocean, although it was relatively weak. As of early October, scientists were not sure if the event would persist, and it was much less intense than the last major El Niño episode, which happened in 1997-1998. That event brought devastating floods to California that cost millions of dollars in damage while severe drought struck Indonesia, Australia, and the Philippines. Among the ocean characteristics that signal developing El Niño events is a change in average sea surface height compared to normal sea level. When water warms, it expands a little, which changes its volume slightly. When heat begins to build up in the Pacific during an El Niño event, the sea surface height begins to creep up. NASA observes changes in average sea surface height using its Jason satellite. The image is based on the average of 10 days of data centered on September 15, 2006, compared to the long-term average of observations from 1993-2005. In this image, places where the Pacific sea surface height is higher (warmer) than normal are yellow, orange, and red, and places where the sea surface is lower (cooler) than normal are blue and purple. Green shows where conditions are near normal. The swath of red in the center of the scene reveals that an El Niño was in progress when Jason observed the Pacific. El Niño is a cyclical warming of the ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific that generally occurs every 3 to 7 years. It is linked with changes in air pressure and high-level winds that can affect weather worldwide. Typically peaking during the Northern Hemisphere winter months, El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. It alternates with La Niña, the cooling of ocean waters in the same region of the Pacific. According to Bill Patzert, oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "The present conditions indicate that the intensity of this El Niño is too weak to have a major influence on current weather patterns. But, if the ocean waters continue to warm and spread eastward, this event would likely strengthen, perhaps bringing much-needed rainfall to the southwestern and southeastern United States this winter." The Jason satellite carries a dual-frequency radar altimeter. This instrument beams microwave pulses-at 13.6 and 5.3 Gigahertz, respectively-downward toward the Earth. To determine the ocean's height, the instrument precisely measures the time it takes for the microwave pulses to bounce off the surface and return to the spacecraft. This measure, multiplied by the speed of light, gives the range from the satellite to the ocean surface. The joint U.S.-French Topex/Poseidon mission is managed by the JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Research on Earth's oceans using Jason and other, space-based capabilities is conducted by NASA's Science Mission Directorate to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information on NASA's ocean surface topography missions, see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] or to view the latest Jason data see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ [ http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ ].
Interpreting Radar View near …
PIA09096
Sol (our sun)
Shallow Subsurface Radar (SH …
Title Interpreting Radar View near Mars' South Pole, Orbit 1334
Original Caption Released with Image A radargram from the Shallow Subsurface Radar instrument (SHARAD) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in the upper-right panel and reveals detailed structure in the polar layered deposits of the south pole of Mars. The sounding radar collected the data presented here during orbit 1334 of the mission, on Nov. 8, 2006. The horizontal scale in the radargram is distance along the ground track. It can be referenced to the ground track map shown in the lower right. The radar traversed from about 75 to 85 degrees south latitude, or about 590 kilometers (370 miles). The ground track map shows elevation measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Green indicates low elevation, reddish-white indicates higher elevation. The traverse proceeds up onto a plateau formed by the layers. The vertical scale on the radargram is time delay of the radar signals reflected back to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the surface and subsurface. For reference, using an assumed velocity of the radar waves in the subsurface, time is converted to depth below the surface at one place: about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) to one of the deeper subsurface reflectors. The color scale varies from black for weak reflections to white for strong reflections. The middle panel shows mapping of the major subsurface reflectors, some of which can be traced for a distance of 100 kilometers (60 miles) or more. The layers are not all horizontal and the reflectors are not always parallel to one another. Some of this is due to variations in surface elevation, which produce differing velocity path lengths for different reflector depths. However, some of this behavior is due to spatial variations in the deposition and removal of material in the layered deposits, a result of the recent climate history of Mars. The Shallow Subsurface Radar was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
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