Search

Over the past 60 years, scientists have strived to understand the past, present and future of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One of the key components of this research has been the mapping of Antarctic bed topography and ice thickness parameters that are crucial for modelling ice flow and hence for predicting future ice loss and ensuing sea level rise. Supported by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Bedmap3 Action Group aims not only to produce new gridded maps of ice thickness and bed topography for the international scientific community, but also to standardize and make available all the geophysical survey data points used in producing the Bedmap gridded products. Here, we document the survey data used in the latest iteration, Bedmap3, incorporating and adding to all of the datasets previously used for Bedmap1 and Bedmap2, including ice-bed, surface and thickness point data from all Antarctic geophysical campaigns since the 1950s. More specifically, we describe the processes used to standardize and make these and future survey and gridded datasets accessible under the ‘Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable’ (FAIR) data principles. With the goals to make the gridding process reproducible and to allow scientists to re-use the data freely for their own analysis, we introduce the new SCAR Bedmap Data Portal (bedmap.scar.org, last access: 18 October 2022) created to provide unprecedented open access to these important datasets, through a user-friendly webmap interface. We believe that this data release will be a valuable asset to Antarctic research and will greatly extend the life cycle of the data held within it. Data are available from the UK Polar Data Centre: https://data.bas.ac.uk.

Low-frequency radar tomography is an important subsurface imaging method for future planetary missions to solar system small bodies. We derive angular and radial sampling criteria for monostatic and bistatic radar tomography algorithms that are based on monochromatic free-space backprojection and spherical apertures. We use the vector Born approximation to highlight the degeneracy of monochromatic bistatic source/receiver direction pair measurements in k-space. Analytical expressions are then derived for the scalar point target response of different spherical sampling geometries. We also derive the angular sampling step and total number of sampling points required to fully reconstruct the point target response for monostatic, bistatic, and non-degenerate k-space spherical apertures. These are evaluated for object sizes and radar operating frequencies expected in small body tomography. We also analyze and derive expressions for the coherence loss of spherical apertures due to random errors in a sensor’s radial position, which provides requirements on the a posteriori ephemeris knowledge. Finally, we derive a vector backprojection algorithm suitable for focusing quad-pol scattering matrix (S-matrix) data that is tested using full-wave S-matrix simulations of dielectric point targets. This work is intended to aid radar instrument performance analysis and inform the design and architecture of future instruments and missions.

Groundwater provides roughly 43% of the water used globally for irrigated agriculture. Understanding, predicting, and managing the environmental processes that define the natural capital of Earth's changing groundwater is one of the most pressing societal challenges of the 21st century. To understand the influence of the dynamics in the vadose zone on terrestrial ecosystems, and to estimate the future sustainability of groundwater resources, a regional and eventually global assessment of water table depth is required. To enable observations of the hydrologic systems' dynamics, the feasibility of an airborne ground penetrating radar (GPR) system is considered as a first step to effectively provide both large spatial coverage and short revisit times. Such a capability has the potential to enable large-scale surveys to directly observe the shallow subsurface hydrologic processes. To evaluate the capabilities of such a system, we start with a review of soil and subsurface material properties, with a focus on hyper-arid regions. Using first principles, results from literature reviews, and recent field measurements, we then investigate the effects of attenuation and surface clutter to identify the potential capabilities and challenges of an airborne GPR to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of the vadose zone. In this paper, we arrive at a qualified “yes”as an answer the title's question. With low radar frequencies (on the order of 10 MHz or less), adequate ground clutter rejection, and medium or higher vadose zone soil resistivity, the detection of water table depths of 50 m and beyond are feasible.

Surface cross-track clutter can corrupt both earth and planetary radar sounder (RS) observations preventing definitive interpretation of subsurface features, which are often of primary interest to geologists and planetary scientists. This clutter is usually identified either by manual or automatic techniques that require ancillary information about the topography of the surface, or by using multichannel RS systems with arrays of antennas. However, topographic information is not always available and multichannel systems are generally too massive and costly to mount on satellites for the planetary exploration. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to clutter discrimination that is independent of ancillary information and limits the hardware complexity of the RS system. This approach uses a two-channel RS and exploits cross-channel interferometric phase differences to discriminate the clutter. Our approach includes three main steps: 1) manual feature extraction and theoretical phase-difference estimation; 2) RS interferogram formation; and 3) comparison of theoretical and real phase difference distributions. The proposed method was validated on RS data acquired in Greenland and provides a proof of concept for the surface clutter discrimination using RS data.

The Northern and Southern Patagonian Icefields are the largest ice masses in the Southern Hemisphere outside Antarctica, but their ice volume and bed topography are poorly known. Here, we combine airborne gravity data collected in 2012 and 2016, with radar data from the Warm Ice Experiment Sounder and Centro de Estudios Científicos's to map bed elevation and ice thickness in great detail. We perform a 3-D inversion of the gravity data constrained by radar-derived thickness and fjord bathymetry to infer bed elevation at 500-m spacing, with a precision of about 60 m. We detect deep glacial valleys with ice thickness exceeding 1,400 m and sectors below sea level on the western branch of Glaciar Pio XI, Occidental, between San Rafael and Colonia, and near Fitz Roy. We calculate an ice volume of 4,756 ± 923 km3 for Northern Patagonia Icefield and Southern Patagonia Icefield, or 40 times the volume of glaciers in the European Alps. Fil: Millan, R.. University of California at Irvine; Estados Unidos Fil: Rignot, E.. University of California; Estados Unidos. Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Centro de Estudios Científicos; Chile Fil: Rivera, A.. Centro de Estudios Científicos; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chile Fil: Martineau, V.. University of California; Estados Unidos Fil: Mouginot, J.. University of California at Irvine; Estados Unidos Fil: Zamora, R.. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Centro de Estudios Científicos; Chile Fil: Uribe, J.. Centro de Estudios Científicos; Chile Fil: Lenzano, María Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: De Fleurian, B.. University of Bergen; Noruega Fil: Li, X.. University of California at Irvine; Estados Unidos Fil: Gim, Y.. Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Kirchner, D.. University of Iowa; Estados Unidos

The potential for habitability puts stringent requirements on planetary protection for a mission to Europa. A long-wavelength radar sounder with a large antenna is one of the proposed instruments for a future Europa mission. The size and construction of radar sounding antennas make the usual methods of meeting planetary protection requirements challenging. This paper discusses a viable planetary protection scheme for an antenna optimized for Europa radar sounding. The preferred methodology for this antenna is exposure to 100 kGy (10 Mrad) in water of gamma radiation using a Cobalt-60 source for both bulk and surface sterilization and exposure to vapor hydrogen peroxide for surface treatment for possible recontamination due to subsequent handling. For the boom-supported antenna design, selected tests were performed to confirm the suitability of these treatment methods. A portion of a coilable boom residual from an earlier mission was irradiated and its deployment repeatability confirmed with no degradation. Elasticity was measured of several fiberglass samples using a four-point bending test to confirm that there was no degradation due to radiation exposure. Vapor hydrogen peroxide treatment was applied to the silver-coated braid used as the antenna radiating element as it was the material most likely to be susceptible to oxidative attack under the treatment conditions. There was no discernable effect. These tests confirm that the radar sounding antenna for a Europa mission should be able tolerate the proposed sterilization methods.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging is commonly used today for topographic and tomographic imaging of planetary surfaces and sub-surfaces. We describe SAR imaging of the interior of comets using time-domain back-projection and a simple ray-bending solution that accounts for the bulk dielectric property of the icy interior of the comet.

The close passage of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) to Mars provided a unique opportunity to observe the interaction of cometary materials with the Martian ionosphere and atmosphere using the sounding radar SHARAD (SHAllow RADar) aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In two nightside observations, acquired in the 10 h following the closest approach, the SHARAD data reveal a significant increase of the total electron content (TEC). The observed TEC values are typical for daylight hours just after dawn or before sunset but are unprecedented this deep into the night. Results support two predictions indicating that cometary pickup O+ ions, or ions generated from the ablation of cometary dust, are responsible for the creation of an additional ion layer.

Low-frequency subsurface radar observations of Mars' polar ice deposits by MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) are heavily impacted by the electron content of Mars' ionosphere, which has a peak plasma frequency close to MARSIS operating frequencies. The resulting ionospheric distortion can be represented as attenuation and bulk delay, in addition to higher-order frequency dispersion effects. Baseline, uncorrected images are often unusable when the solar zenith angle is less than 90° (day side). In this work, a radar autofocus algorithm is developed that estimates and inverts ionospheric distortion, producing a focused radargram of the ice deposit subsurface. A maximum likelihood approach is developed that incorporates simulated surface clutter returns for the current spacecraft position, based on the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) elevation model of the Martian surface. An ancillary product is a surface-only clutter simulation for each orbit, which is necessary to identify true subsurface features.

We present the Warm Ice Sounding Explorer (WISE), a low-frequency (2.5 MHz) radar for the sounding of temperate ice. WISE deployment in southern Alaska in 2008 and 2012 provides comprehensive measurements of glacier thickness, reveals deep valleys beneath glaciers and the full extent of zones grounded below sea level. The east branch of Columbia Glacier is deeper that its main branch and remains below sea level 20 km farther inland. Ice is 1000 m deep on Tazlina Glacier. On Bering glacier, two sills separate three deep bed depressions (>1200 m) that coincide with the dynamic balance lines during surges. The piedmont lobe of Malaspina Glacier and the lower reaches of Hubbard Glacier are entirely grounded below sea level 40 and 10 km, respectively, from their termini. Knowledge of ice thickness in these regions helps better understand their glacier dynamics, mass balance, and impact on sea level. Key Points Low frequency radar sounding works extremely well in Alaska Ice is much thicker than suggested by limited surveys Data reveals full extent of areas grounded below sea level ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Cassini radar tracks on Saturn’s icy satellites through the end of the Prime Mission in 2008 have increased the number of radar albedo estimates from 10 ( Ostro et al., 2006 ) to 73. The measurements sample diverse subradar locations (and for Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus almost always use beamwidths less than half the target angular diameters), thereby constraining the satellites’ global radar albedo distributions. The echoes result predominantly from volume scattering, and their strength is thus strongly sensitive to ice purity and regolith maturity. The combination of the Cassini data set and Arecibo 13-cm observations of Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea ( Black et al., 2007 ), and Iapetus ( Black et al., 2004 ) discloses an unexpectedly complex pattern of 13-to-2-cm wavelength dependence. The 13-cm albedos are generally smaller than 2-cm albedos and lack the correlation seen between 2-cm and optical geometric albedos. Enceladus and Iapetus are the most interesting cases. We infer from hemispheric albedo variations that the E-ring has a prominent effect on the 13-cm radar “lightcurve”. The uppermost trailing-side regolith is too fresh for meteoroid bombardment to have developed larger-scale heterogeneities that would be necessary to elevate the 13-cm radar albedo, whereas all of Enceladus is clean and mature enough for the 2-cm albedo to be uniformly high. For, Iapetus, the 2-cm albedo is strongly correlated with optical albedo: low for the optically dark, leading-side material and high for the optically bright, trailing-side material. However, Iapetus’ 13-cm albedo values show no significant albedo dichotomy and are several times lower than 2-cm values, being indistinguishable from the weighted mean of 13-cm albedos for main-belt asteroids, 0.15 ± 0.10. The leading side’s optically dark contaminant must be present to depths of at least one to several decimeters, so 2-cm albedos can mimic the optical dichotomy; however, it does not have to extend any deeper than that. The fact that both hemispheres of Iapetus look Asteroid-like at 13 cm means that coherent backscattering itself is not nearly as effective as it is at 2 cm. Since Iapetus’ entire surface is mature regolith, the wavelength dependence must involve composition, not structure. Either the composition is a function of depth everywhere (with electrical loss much greater at depths greater than a decimeter or two), or the intrinsic electrical loss of some pervasive constituent is much higher at 13 cm than at 2 cm. Ammonia is a candidate for such a contaminant. If ammonia’s electrical properties do not depend on frequency, and if ammonia is globally much less abundant within the upper one or two decimeters than at greater depths, then coherent backscattering would effectively be shut down at 13 cm, explaining the Asteroid-like 13-cm albedo.

A technique, referred to as SARTopo, has been developed for obtaining surface height estimates with 10 km horizontal resolution and 75 m vertical resolution of the surface of Titan along each Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) swath. We describe the technique and present maps of the co-located data sets. A global map and regional maps of Xanadu and the northern hemisphere hydrocarbon lakes district are included in the results. A strength of the technique is that it provides topographic information co-located with SAR imagery. Having a topographic context vastly improves the interpretability of the SAR imagery and is essential for understanding Titan. SARTopo is capable of estimating surface heights for most of the SAR-imaged surface of Titan. Currently nearly 30% of the surface is within 100 km of a SARTopo height profile. Other competing techniques provide orders of magnitude less coverage. We validate the SARTopo technique through comparison with known geomorphological features such as mountain ranges and craters, and by comparison with co-located nadir altimetry, including a 3000 km strip that had been observed by SAR a month earlier. In this area, the SARTopo and nadir altimetry data sets are co-located tightly (within 5–10 km for one 500 km section), have similar resolution, and as expected agree closely in surface height. Furthermore the region contains prominent high spatial resolution topography, so it provides an excellent test of the resolution and precision of both techniques.

The first comprehensive calibration and mapping of the thermal microwave emission from Titan's surface is reported based on radiometric data obtained at 2.2-cm wavelength by the passive radiometer included in the Cassini Radar instrument. The data reported were accumulated from 69 separate observational segments in Titan passes from Ta (October 2004) through T30 (May 2007) and include emission from 94% of Titan's surface. They are diverse in the key observing parameters of emission angle, polarization, and spatial resolution, and their reduction into calibrated global mosaic maps involved several steps. Analysis of the polarimetry obtained at low to moderate resolution (50+ km) enabled integration of the radiometry into a single mosaic of the equivalent brightness temperature at normal incidence with a relative precision of about 1 K. The Huygens probe measurement of Titan's surface temperature and radiometry obtained on Titan's dune fields allowed us to infer an absolute calibration estimated to be accurate to a level approaching 1 K. The results provide evidence for a surface that is complex and varied on large scales. The radiometry primarily constrains physical properties of the surface, where we see strong evidence for subsurface (volume) scattering as a dominant mechanism that determines the emissivity, with the possibility of a fluffy or graded-density surface layer in many regions. The results are consistent with, but not necessarily definitive of a surface composition resulting from the slow deposition and processing of organic compounds from the atmosphere.

The Cassini spacecraft has acquired 25 radar altimeter elevation profiles along Titan's surface as of April 2008, and we have analyzed 18 of these for which there are currently reconstructed ephemeris data. Altimeter measurements were collected at spatial footprint sizes from 6–60 km along ground tracks of length 400–3600 km. The elevation profiles yield topographic information at this resolution with a statistical height accuracy of 35–50 m and kilometer-scale errors several times greater. The data exhibit significant variations in terrain, from flat regions with little topographic expression to very rugged Titanscapes. The bandwidth of the transmitted waveform admits vertical resolution of the terrain height to 35 m at each observed location on the surface. Variations in antenna pointing and changes in surface statistics cause the range-compressed radar echoes to exhibit strong systematic and time-variable biases of hundreds of meters in delay. It is necessary to correct the received echoes for these changes, and we have derived correction algorithms such that the derived echo profiles are accurate at the 100 m level for off-nadir pointing errors of 0.3° and 0.6°, for leading edge and echo centroid estimators, respectively. The leading edge of the echo yields the elevation of the highest points on the surface, which we take to be the peaks of any terrain variation. The mean value of the echo delay is more representative of the mean elevation, so that the difference of these values gives an estimate of any local mountain heights. Finding locations where these values diverge indicates higher-relief terrain. Elevation features are readily seen in the height profiles. Several of the passes show mountains of several hundred m altitude, spread over 10's or even 100's of km in spatial extent, so that slopes are very small. Large expanses of sub-100 m topography are commonplace on Titan, so it is rather smooth in many locations. Other areas exhibit more relief, although the overall observed variation in surface height on any pass is less than about 1 km. Some elevation features correspond to observed changes in brightness in Cassini infrared images, but many do not. Correspondence between the imaging SAR ground tracks and the altimeter paths is limited, so that identifying elevation changes with higher resolution SAR features is premature at present.

We report regional-scale low-resolution backscatter images of Titan's surface acquired by the Cassini RADAR scatterometer at a wavelength of 2.18-cm. We find that the average angular dependence of the backscatter from large regions and from specific surface features is consistent with a model composed of a quasi-specular Hagfors term plus a diffuse cosine component. A Gaussian quasi-specular term also fits the data, but less well than the Hagfors term. We derive values for the mean dielectric constant and root-mean-square (rms) slope of the surface from the quasi-specular term, which we ascribe to scattering from the surface interface only. The diffuse term accommodates contributions from volume scattering, multiple scattering, or wavelength-scale near-surface structure. The Hagfors model results imply a surface with regional mean dielectric constants between 1.9 and 3.6 and regional surface roughness that varies between 5.3° and 13.4° in rms-slope. Dielectric constants between 2 and 3 are expected for a surface composed of solid simple hydrocarbons, water ice, or a mixture of both. Smaller dielectric constants, between 1.6 and 1.9, are consistent with liquid hydrocarbons, while larger dielectric constants, near 4.5, may indicate the presence of water–ammonia ice [Lorenz, R.D., 1998. Icarus 136, 344–348] or organic heteropolymers [Thompson, W.R., Squyres, S.W., 1990. Icarus 86, 336–354]. We present backscatter images corrected for angular effects using the model residuals, which show strong features that correspond roughly to those in 0.94-μm ISS images. We model the localized backscatter from specific features to estimate dielectric constant and rms slope when the angular coverage is within the quasi-specular part of the backscatter curve. Only two apparent surface features are scanned with angular coverage sufficient for accurate modeling. Data from the bright albedo feature Quivira suggests a dielectric constant near 2.8 and rms slope near 10.1°. The dark albedo feature Shangri-La is best fit by a Hagfors model with a dielectric constant close to 2.4 and an rms slope near 9.5°. From the modeled backscatter curves, we find the average radar albedo in the same linear (SL) polarization to be near 0.34. We constrain the total-power albedo in order to compare the measurements with available groundbased radar results, which are typically obtained in both senses of circular polarization. We estimate an upper limit of 0.4 on the total-power albedo, a value that is significantly higher than the 0.21 total albedo value measured at 13 cm [Campbell, D., Black, G., Carter, L., Ostro, S., 2003. Science 302, 431–434]. This is consistent with a surface that has more small-scale structure and is thus more reflective at 2-cm than 13-cm. We compare results across overlapping observations and observe that the reduction and analysis are repeatable and consistent. We also confirm the strong correlations between radar and near-infrared images.

International audience; The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper obtained Synthetic Aperture Radar images of Titan's surface during four fly-bys during the mission's first year. These images show that Titan's surface is very complex geologically, showing evidence of major planetary geologic processes, including cryovolcanism. This paper discusses the variety of cryovolcanic features identified from SAR images, their possible origin, and their geologic context. The features which we identify as cryovolcanic in origin include a large (180 km diameter) volcanic construct (dome or shield), several extensive flows, and three calderas which appear to be the source of flows. The composition of the cryomagma on Titan is still unknown, but constraints on rheological properties can be estimated using flow thickness. Rheological properties of one flow were estimated and appear inconsistent with ammonia-water slurries, and possibly more consistent with ammonia-water-methanol slurries. The extent of cryovolcanism on Titan is still not known, as only a small fraction of the surface has been imaged at sufficient resolution. Energetic considerations suggest that cryovolcanism may have been a dominant process in the resurfacing of Titan.

Surface clutter can corrupt both Earth and planetary Radar Sounder (RS) observations preventing definitive interpretation of subsurface features, which are often the primary interest of geologists and planetary scientists. Clutter is usually detected by manual or automatic techniques that require ancillary information about the topography of the surface. However, this topography information is not always available. In this paper, we propose a novel method for clutter detection that is independent from ancillary information. This method uses a two channel RS system to exploit the cross-channel interferometric phase difference and is made up three main steps: i) feature extraction and theoretical phase difference estimation, ii) RS interferogram formation and iii) comparison of theoretical and real phase difference distributions. The proposed method has been validated on RS data acquired in Greenland.

Cassini 2.2-cm radar and radiometric observations of seven of Saturn's icy satellites yield properties that apparently are dominated by subsurface volume scattering and are similar to those of the icy Galilean satellites. Average radar albedos decrease in the order Enceladus/Tethys, Hyperion, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus, and Phoebe. This sequence most likely corresponds to increasing contamination of near-surface water ice, which is intrinsically very transparent at radio wavelengths. Plausible candidates for contaminants include ammonia, silicates, metallic oxides, and polar organics (ranging from nitriles like HCN to complex tholins). There is correlation of our targets' radar and optical albedos, probably due to variations in the concentration of optically dark contaminants in near-surface water ice and the resulting variable attenuation of the high-order multiple scattering responsible for high radar albedos. Our highest radar albedos, for Enceladus and Tethys, probably require that at least the uppermost one to several decimeters of the surface be extremely clean water ice regolith that is structurally complex (i.e., mature) enough for there to be high-order multiple scattering within it. At the other extreme, Phoebe has an asteroidal radar reflectivity that may be due to a combination of single and volume scattering. Iapetus' 2.2-cm radar albedo is dramatically higher on the optically bright trailing side than the optically dark leading side, whereas 13-cm results reported by Black et al. [Black, G.J., Campbell, D.B., Carter, L.M., Ostro, S.J., 2004. Science 304, 553] show hardly any hemispheric asymmetry and give a mean radar reflectivity several times lower than the reflectivity measured at 2.2 cm. These Iapetus results are understandable if ammonia is much less abundant on both sides within the upper one to several decimeters than at greater depths, and if the leading side's optically dark contaminant is present to depths of at least one to several decimeters. As argued by Lanzerotti et al. [Lanzerotti, L.J., Brown, W.L., Marcantonio, K.J., Johnson, R.E., 1984. Nature 312, 139–140], a combination of ion erosion and micrometeoroid gardening may have depleted ammonia from the surfaces of Saturn's icy satellites. Given the hypersensitivity of water ice's absorption length to ammonia concentration, an increase in ammonia with depth could allow efficient 2.2-cm scattering from within the top one to several decimeters while attenuating 13-cm echoes, which would require a six-fold thicker scattering layer. If so, we would expect each of the icy satellites' average radar albedos to be higher at 2.2 cm than at 13 cm, as is the case so far with Rhea [Black, G., Campbell, D., 2004. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 36, 1123] as well as Iapetus.

The most recent Cassini RADAR images of Titan show widespread regions (up to 1500 kilometers by 200 kilometers) of near-parallel radar-dark linear features that appear to be seas of longitudinal dunes similar to those seen in the Namib desert on Earth. The Ku-band (2.17-centimeter wavelength) images show approximately 100-meter ridges consistent with duneforms and reveal flow interactions with underlying hills. The distribution and orientation of the dunes support a model of fluctuating surface winds of approximately 0.5 meter per second resulting from the combination of an eastward flow with a variable tidal wind. The existence of dunes also requires geological processes that create sand-sized (100- to 300-micrometer) particulates and a lack of persistent equatorial surface liquids to act as sand traps.

This paper presents the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) that is a fundamental payload in the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). RIME is a radar sounder aimed to study the subsurface of Jupiter's icy moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. The paper illustrates the main goals of RIME, its architecture and parameters and some recent advances in its design.

The grounding line is a key element of coastal outlet glaciers, acting on their dynamics. Accurately knowing its position is fundamental for both modelling the glacier dynamics and establishing a benchmark for later change detection. Here we map the grounding line of the Astrolabe Glacier in East Antarctica (66°41' S, 140°05' E), using both hydrostatic and tidal methods. The first method is based on new surface and ice thickness data from which the line of buoyant floatation is found. The second method uses kinematic GPS measurements of the tidal response of the ice surface. By detecting the transitions where the ice starts to move vertically in response to the tidal forcing we determine control points for the grounding line position along GPS profiles. Employing a two-dimensional elastic plate model, we compute the rigid short-term behaviour of the ice plate and estimate the correction required to compare the kinematic GPS control points with the previously determined line of floatation. These two approaches show consistency and lead us to propose a grounding line for the Astrolabe Glacier that significantly deviates from the lines obtained so far from satellite imagery.

This paper presents the Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) instrument, which has been selected as payload for the JUpiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. JUICE is the first Large-class mission chosen as part of the ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, and is aimed to study Jupiter and to investigate the potentially habitable zones in the Galilean icy satellites. RIME is a radar sounder optimized for the penetration of Ganymede, Europa and Callisto up to a depth of 9 km in order to allow the study of the subsurface geology and geophysics of the icy moons and detect possible subsurface water. In this paper we present the main science goals of RIME, the main technical challenges for its development and for its operations, as well as the expected scientific returns.

Commercially available devices fabricated from GaN are beginning to appear from a number of different suppliers. In this initial study of the radiation tolerance of commercial GaN devices, several device types from several suppliers were chosen. Three different studies were performed: 1) a preliminary DDD/TID test of a variety of part types was performed by irradiating with 55 MeV protons, 2) a detailed DDD/TID study of one particular part type was performed by irradiating with 55 MeV protons, and 3) a SEB/SEGR test was performed on a variety of part types by irradiating with heavy ions. No significant degradation was observed in any of the tests performed in this study.

We have estimated global elevations on Titan using a combination of nadir-looking altimetry and SAR monopulse measurements acquired by the Cassini spacecraft radar on multiple Titan encounters. These data correspond to a set of one-dimensional tracks spread over much of the moon's surface, but with fewer observations in the southern hemisphere than in the north. We fit the measured points with spheres, biaxial ellipsoids, and a set of spherical harmonic functions to produce global elevation estimates.

from

International audience; Cassini's third and fourth radar flybys, T7 and T8, covered diverse terrains in the high southern and equatorial latitudes, respectively. The T7 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) swath is somewhat more straightforward to understand in terms of a progressive poleward descent from a high, dissected, and partly hilly terrain down to a low flat plain with embayments and deposits suggestive of the past or even current presence of hydrocarbon liquids. The T8 swath is dominated by dunes likely made of organic solids, but also contain somewhat enigmatic, probably tectonic, features that may be partly buried or degraded by erosion or relaxation in a thin crust. The dark areas in T7 show no dune morphology, unlike the dark areas in T8, but are radiometrically warm like the dunes. The Huygens landing site lies on the edge of the T8 swath; correlation of the radar and Huygens DISR images allows accurate determination of its coordinates, and indicates that to the north of the landing site sit two large longitudinal dunes. Indeed, had the Huygens probe trajectory been just 10 km north of where it actually was, images of large sand dunes would have been returned in place of the fluvially dissected terrain actually seen?illustrating the strong diversity of Titan's landscapes even at local scales.

Lobate features abutting massifs and escarpments in the middle latitudes of Mars have been recognized in images for decades, but their true nature has been controversial, with hypotheses of origin such as ice-lubricated debris flows or glaciers covered by a layer of surface debris. These models imply an ice content ranging from minor and interstitial to massive and relatively pure. Soundings of these deposits in the eastern Hellas region by the Shallow Radar on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal radar properties entirely consistent with massive water ice, supporting the debris-covered glacier hypothesis. The results imply that these glaciers formed in a previous climate conducive to glaciation at middle latitudes. Such features may collectively represent the most extensive nonpolar ice yet recognized on Mars.

For some 19 areas of Titan's surface, the Cassini RADAR instrument has obtained synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images during two different flybys. The time interval between flybys varies from several weeks to two years. We have used the apparent misregistration (by 10-30 km) of features between separate flybys to construct a refined model of Titan's spin state, estimating six parameters: north pole right ascension and declination, spin rate, and these quantities' first time derivatives We determine a pole location with right ascension of 39.48 degrees and declination of 83.43 degrees corresponding to a 0.3 degree obliquity. We determine the spin rate to be 22.5781 deg day–1 or 0.001 deg day–1 faster than the synchronous spin rate. Our estimated corrections to the pole and spin rate exceed their corresponding standard errors by factors of 80 and 8, respectively. We also found that the rate of change in the pole right ascension is –30 deg century–1, ten times faster than right ascension rate of change for the orbit normal. The spin rate is increasing at a rate of 0.05 deg day–1 per century. We observed no significant change in pole declination over the period for which we have data. Applying our pole correction reduces the feature misregistration from tens of km to 3 km. Applying the spin rate and derivative corrections further reduces the misregistration to 1.2 km.

The Martian ionosphere's local total electron content (TEC) and the neutral atmosphere scale height can be derived from radar echoes reflected from the surface of the planet. We report the global distribution of the TEC by analyzing more than 750,000 echoes of the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS). This is the first direct measurement of the TEC of the Martian ionosphere. The technique used in this paper is a novel 'transmission-mode' sounding of the ionosphere of Mars in contrast to the Active Ionospheric Sounding experiment (AIS) on MARSIS, which generally operates in the reflection mode. This technique yields a global map of the TEC for the Martian ionosphere. The radar transmits a wideband chirp signal that travels through the ionosphere before and after being reflected from the surface. The received waves are attenuated, delayed and dispersed, depending on the electron density in the column directly below the spacecraft. In the process of correcting the radar signal, we are able to estimate the TEC and its global distribution with an unprecedented resolution of about 0.1 deg in latitude (5 km footprint). The mapping of the relative geographical variations in the estimated nightside TEC data reveals an intricate web of high electron density regions that correspond to regions where crustal magnetic field lines are connected to the solar wind. Our data demonstrates that these regions are generally but not exclusively associated with areas that have magnetic field lines perpendicular to the surface of Mars. As a result, the global TEC map provides a high-resolution view of where the Martian crustal magnetic field is connected to the solar wind. We also provide an estimate of the neutral atmospheric scale height near the ionospheric peak and observe temporal fluctuations in peak electron density related to solar activity.

The surface of Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan has long been proposed to have oceans or lakes, on the basis of the stability of liquid methane at the surface1, 2. Initial visible3 and radar4, 5 imaging failed to find any evidence of an ocean, although abundant evidence was found that flowing liquids have existed on the surface5, 6. Here we provide definitive evidence for the presence of lakes on the surface of Titan, obtained during the Cassini Radar flyby of Titan on 22 July 2006 (T16). The radar imaging polewards of 70° north shows more than 75 circular to irregular radar-dark patches, in a region where liquid methane and ethane are expected to be abundant and stable on the surface2, 7. The radar-dark patches are interpreted as lakes on the basis of their very low radar reflectivity and morphological similarities to lakes, including associated channels and location in topographic depressions. Some of the lakes do not completely fill the depressions in which they lie, and apparently dry depressions are present. We interpret this to indicate that lakes are present in a number of states, including partly dry and liquid-filled. These northern-hemisphere lakes constitute the strongest evidence yet that a condensable-liquid hydrological cycle is active in Titan's surface and atmosphere, in which the lakes are filled through rainfall and/or intersection with the subsurface 'liquid methane' table.

International audience; Mars' polar regions are covered with ice-rich layered deposits that potentially contain a record of climate variations. The sounding radar SHARAD on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped detailed subsurface stratigraphy in the Promethei Lingula region of the south polar plateau, Planum Australe. Radar reflections interpreted as layers are correlated across adjacent orbits and are continuous for up to 150 kilometers along spacecraft orbital tracks. The reflectors are often separated into discrete reflector sequences, and strong echoes are seen as deep as 1 kilometer. In some cases, the sequences are dipping with respect to each other, suggesting an interdepositional period of erosion. In Australe Sulci, layers are exhumed, indicating recent erosion.

The Cassini RADAR instrument onboard the Cassini Orbiter is currently collecting SAR Imagery of the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. This paper describes the ground processing of Cassini SAR data. We focus upon the unusual features of the data and how these features impact the processing. We exhibit a data dependent mechanism we have implemented for eliminating artifacts due to attitude and ephemeris knowledge error. Finally we describe how we trade-off SAR performance vs. area of coverage when we design our spacecraft pointing profiles.

International audience; Cassini's Titan Radar Mapper imaged the surface of Saturn's moon Titan on its February 2005 fly-by (denoted T3), collecting high-resolution synthetic-aperture radar and larger-scale radiometry and scatterometry data. These data provide the first definitive identification of impact craters on the surface of Titan, networks of fluvial channels and surficial dark streaks that may be longitudinal dunes. Here we describe this great diversity of landforms. We conclude that much of the surface thus far imaged by radar of the haze-shrouded Titan is very young, with persistent geologic activity.

The first two swaths collected by Cassini's Titan Radar Mapper were obtained in October of 2004 (Ta) and February of 2005 (T3). The Ta swath provides evidence for cryovolcanic processes, the possible occurrence of fluvial channels and lakes, and some tectonic activity. The T3 swath has extensive areas of dunes and two large impact craters. We interpret the brightness variations in much of the swaths to result from roughness variations caused by fracturing and erosion of Titan's icy surface, with additional contributions from a combination of volume scattering and compositional variations. Despite the small amount of Titan mapped to date, the significant differences between the terrains of the two swaths suggest that Titan is geologically complex. The overall scarcity of impact craters provides evidence that the surface imaged to date is relatively young, with resurfacing by cryovolcanism, fluvial erosion, aeolian erosion, and likely atmospheric deposition of materials. Future radar swaths will help to further define the nature of and extent to which internal and external processes have shaped Titan's surface.

International audience; The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper imaged about 1% of Titan's surface at a resolution of ~0.5 kilometer, and larger areas of the globe in lower resolution modes. The images reveal a complex surface, with areas of low relief and a variety of geologic features suggestive of dome-like volcanic constructs, flows, and sinuous channels. The surface appears to be young, with few impact craters. Scattering and dielectric properties are consistent with porous ice or organics. Dark patches in the radar images show high brightness temperatures and high emissivity and are consistent with frozen hydrocarbons.

We previously reported an initial determination of Titan's rotational state from fits to overlapping radar images. We have since discovered a coding error in software used to make these fits, which led to systematic offsets of 1-2 km in recovered positions. While our principal results remain qualitatively unchanged, with this error corrected, the pole movement we previously reported (our weakest result) is now counterindicated. Our revised best fit is essentially the same as the "best-fit no pole wobble" result discussed at the top of the second column on page 1675. The determined pole location did not change significantly after the bug fix and thus we still conclude that the spin axis is not in the plane formed by Titan's orbit normal and the normal to the Laplace plane. Due to the correlations between pole wobble and spin rate (see Figure 3 on page 1672), the new best fit has a spin rate that differs from the synchronous value by an amount that is three times smaller than the value reported in the paper. The pole location changed by less than 0.01 deg (~500 m on the surface) and rate of increase in spin decreased by a factor of 2 from the previous fit. The new best-fit parameter values with 1σ error bars are: pole right ascension 39.4934 ± 0.0249 deg, pole declination 83.4368 ± 0.0024 deg, spin rate 22.57731 ± 0.00011 deg/day (0.00033 deg/day greater than synchronous spin rate), derivative of pole right ascension –6.52 ± 4.20 deg/century, derivative of pole declination –0.2212 ± 0.3567 deg/century, and derivative of spin rate 0.0247 ± 0.0050 deg/day/century. The corrected version of Table 3 (below) shows the residual systematic and random error of the several candidate models discussed in the paper. Fixing the bug reduced the residual systematic error of all the fitted models. The four models in which spin rate is allowed to vary from synchronous either due to a change in spin rate (Column 5, numbered from the left) or a change in its time derivative (Column 6) or both (Columns 7 and 8) have lower residual systematic errors and thus better represent the data than do the purely synchronous fit (Column 3). For this reason, an asynchronous spin rate is still supported by the data, although efforts (e.g., Mitchell 2009) to quantitatively interpret the asynchroneity should take our revised determination into account. On the other hand, as depicted by Columns 7 and 8, allowing the pole movement terms to vary from the predicted (IAU Titan) values results in no significant improvement in the fit, thus large short-term pole movement is not supported by the data. In fact, the best-fit values and error bars for the pole movement are consistent with the long-term pole trends that were predicted prior to the Cassini mission.

Nature 441, 709–713 (2006) In this Article, Fig. 2 was printed in reverse (bright areas appeared dark and vice versa). The correct figure is reprinted below.