Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p62b..08j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P62B-08
Other
5410 Composition, 5415 Erosion And Weathering, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Visible/near-infrared and thermal infrared spectroscopy of planetary surfaces undergoing physical weathering provides opportunities to study the compositional properties of subsurface and surface materials. Field, laboratory, and remote observations of surfaces subjected to either natural erosion or deposition (e.g., aeolian, fluvial, or slope processes) or man-made disturbances (e.g., robotic rover operations) can be combined with theoretical modeling to better understand spectral variations and prepare for future observations. In the thermal infrared, disturbed soils exhibit decreased spectral contrast due to fine-grained particle coatings, some of which may be compositionally different than the surface. In the visible/near-infrared, similar compositional effects are observed, combined with albedo variations. During the 1999 Marsokhod rover field test, disturbed soils were brighter and exhibited more clay-rich spectral features. But during the Mars Pathfinder (MPF) mission, rover tracks were darker than undisturbed terrain and exhibited spectral variations suggestive of coarser-grained subsurface soils. This is consistent with a thin dust layer comprising the pristine soils, most likely fall-out of atmospheric dust. Laboratory analyses of airfall-deposited dust on rocks show decreases in spectral contrast in the thermal infrared and increased albedo in the visible/near-infrared consistent with these observations. On Mars, dust deposition affects solar power production and calibration of data. Observations and radiative transfer modeling of the MPF calibration targets show dust contaminated the surfaces at the MPF site. Additional modeling efforts will be bolstered by new goniometer measurements of dust-coated rocks and other lander/rover components obtained at a variety of illumination geometries and wavelengths. The synergistic exploration of field, laboratory, and in-situ rover observations combined with theoretical modeling will improve our understanding of dust deposition and disturbed soil effects on Mars and Earth and our ability to determine composition of both dust coatings and underlying materials. The upcoming Mars Exploration Rovers are planning observations to track and compensate for the effects of atmospheric dust deposition, as well as investigate soil disturbances to compare the surface and subsurface properties of soils.
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