SHARAD radar stratigraphy of the Martian North Pole
Biccari, D. ; Marinangeli, L. ; Cutigni, M. ; ...Flamini, E.
Jan - 2007

journal : American Geophysical Union
type: Article Journal

Abstract
SHARAD (SHAllow RADar) is a nadir looking synthetic aperture subsurface sounding radar and altimeter provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The primary objective of SHARAD is the investigation of the subsurface at shallow depth to detect geological signatures for water reservoirs. The Mars polar regions and their ice caps are among the highest priority targets for SHARAD. In its first several months of data acquisition, SHARAD made many successful observations of the Martian north pole, detecting the diverse stratification of the polar layer deposits (NPLD) down to hundreds of meters. Some spacecraft-rolled observations resulted in increased performance, allowing identification of even more complex stratigraphy in the NPLD and variable depth of the basal unit. One major north polar campaign of SHARAD observations targeted the Gemina Lingula region of Mars. In addition to establishing the context for these observations, this paper presents a detailed reconstruction of the subsurface layers as a function of location and geometrical setting based on several crossing groundtracks above Gemina Lingula. This allows a three dimensional view of the sequences revealed by the radar to be compared with surface information. Moreover, these orbit crossovers permit the systematic removal of clutter and noise, yielding more precise measurements of the subsurface layer depths.

keywords : 5422 Ices,5464 Remote sensing,5470 Surface materials and properties,6225 Mars,6949 Radar astronomy,E. Flamini: ASI authors,F. Russo,SHARAD I/007/05/0