JPL Home Page JPL Earth JPL Solar System JPL Stars and Galaxies JPL Science & Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA Home Page Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Follow this link to skip to the main content
NASA logo, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology header separator
+ NASA Homepage
+ NASA en Español
+ Marte en Español
GO!
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Overview Science Technology The Mission People Features Events Multimedia
Mars for Kids
Mars for Students
Mars for Educators
Mars for Press
+ Mars Home
+ MRO Home
Multimedia
Summary
Images
bullet Press Release Images
bullet MOI
bullet Cruise
bullet Aerobraking
bullet Spacecraft
bullet Mars Artwork
bullet Dust Storms
bullet Launch
bullet Calibration
Videos
Press Release Images
Return to Press Release Images index
This composite graphic illustrates the use of the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for mapping underground ice-rich layers of the north polar layered terrain on Mars.
Larger JPG (752 kB)
22-Sep-2009
Radar Map of Buried Mars Layers Matches Climate Cycles
Full Press Release
 
Radar Mapping of Icy Layers Under Mars' North Pole
Radar Mapping of Icy Layers Under Mars' North Pole

This composite graphic illustrates the use of the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for mapping underground ice-rich layers of the north polar layered terrain on Mars.

Pane "a" is a radargram from the instrument, showing a cross-section of Mars' north polar cap, based on time lags of radio-wave echoes returning from different layers. The penetrating radar reveals icy layered deposits overlying a basal unit in some areas. The vertical dimension in the cross-section is exaggerated one-hundred-fold compared with the horizontal dimension. The vertical scale bar is one kilometer (3,281 feet). The horizontal scale bar is 100 kilometers (62 miles).

Pane "b" is an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, also on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It shows the layered deposits and the basal unit in outcrop exposed near the edge of the polar cap. The scale bar is 2 kilometers (1.24 miles). This is a cutout from an observation taken on taken Nov. 28, 2006, at 83.4 degrees north latitude and 118.8 degrees east longitude. Full-frame versions of the observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_001593_2635 .

Pane "c" is a radar-generated map of the surface elevation of the polar region. The white line from A to A' is the ground track for the radargram in Pane "a." Yellow dashed lines show the extent of the basal unit (upper-left region) and of the layered deposits. The color-coded reference bar for elevations in panes "c" and "d" shows elevations ranging from yellow at 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) below the standard reference level for Mars to violet at 5.8 kilometers (3.6 miles) below that reference.

Pane "d" is a radar-generated map of the elevation at the base of the layered deposits, showing no basal deflection in the lower-right region (despite the mass of overlying layers) and about about 1 kilometer (0.6. mile) of basal unit deposits in the upper-left region.

Pane "e" is a radar-generated map of the thickness of the layered deposits, the difference between the surface elevations mapped in "c" and the base elevations mapped in "d." The total volume of the layered deposits is 821,000 cubic kilometers (197,000 cubic miles), about 30 percent that of Earth's Greenland ice sheet. The scale bar of 200 kilometers (124 miles) applies also to panes "c" and "d." The color-coded reference bar indicates thicknesses ranging from yellow at 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) to black at zero thickness.

The illustration is adapted from a 2009 paper by Putzig et al. in the journal Icarus.

The Shallow Radar instrument was provided by the Italian Space Agency. 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 in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA 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 & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute/University of Arizona

Browse Image | Medium Image (151 kB) | Large (749 kB)
Full Resolution (1.7 MB)
 
Radargram

This is a radargram from the instrument, showing a cross-section of Mars' north polar cap, based on time lags of radio-wave echoes returning from different layers. The penetrating radar reveals icy layered deposits overlying a basal unit in some areas. The vertical dimension in the cross-section is exaggerated one-hundred-fold compared with the horizontal dimension. The vertical scale bar is one kilometer (3,281 feet). The horizontal scale bar is 100 kilometers (62 miles).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute/University of Arizona

Labelled:
Browse Image | Medium Image (37 kB) | Large (154 kB)
Full Resolution (720 kB)

Unlabelled:
Browse Image | Medium Image (38 kB) | Large (165 kB)
Full Resolution (720 kB)
Radar-generated Map of the Thickness of the Layered Deposits

This is a radar-generated map of the thickness of the layered deposits, the difference between the surface elevations mapped in "c" and the base elevations mapped in "d" in the composite above. The total volume of the layered deposits is 821,000 cubic kilometers (197,000 cubic miles), about 30 percent that of Earth's Greenland ice sheet. The scale bar of 200 kilometers (124 miles) applies also to panes "c" and "d." The color-coded reference bar indicates thicknesses ranging from yellow at 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) to black at zero thickness.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute/University of Arizona

Labelled:
Browse Image | Medium Image (154 kB) | Large (788 kB)
Full Resolution (2.4 MB)

Unlabelled:
Browse Image | Medium Image (153 kB) | Large (793 kB)
Full Resolution (2.4 MB)

JPL Image Use Policy

Credits Feedback Related Links Sitemap
USA Gov
USA Gov