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MENA-FERNANDEZ, Selene, PEREZ, Raymond, and XIE, Hongjie,
Earth and Environmental Science, Univ of Texas at
San Antonio, 6900 N Loop 1604 W, San Antonio, TX 78249, smenafer@yahoo.com
To better understand Mars’ geological
features, water resources, possible life, and climate aspects, several
spacecrafts such as the Mars Global Survey, Mars Express and Mars Odyssey had
been launch into space. The latter, carries a sensor called Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS), which combines a 5-band visible subsystem (VIS) and a 10-band infrared (IR) subsystem with 19m, 100m pixel
resolution, respectively. This study aims at developing methods to eventually
assess Mars’ mineral and rock composition through the case study of the
Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris from THEMIS image analysis. ISIS 3.0 software was utilized to transform
individual THEMIS QUEB files to Cub and from Cub to Tiff files. Then, these
Tiff images were brought to ENVI for further processing and analyses. All
analyses will be based on three geophysical parameters of the two study
areas: temperature, radiance, and emissivity. The
spectral emmisivity of materials in the two areas
will be compared with the Earth’s mineral library. This will allow us to
finally understand the rock and mineral composition of the Mars surface and
the geological and tectonic processes that Mars experienced. Initial results
indicate that the temperatures are slightly difference between the Olympus Mons (-27 to 4°F) and the Valles
Marineris (-28 to 9°F), while the spectral radiance
of materials in the two areas are obviously different. Further data
processing and analyses are still in progress.
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Session No.
2
General
Session 1. Remote Sensing/GIS, Structure and Tectonics
Trinity University: Northrup Hall 040
8:30 AM-12:00 PM, Friday, April 1, 2005
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 3,
p. 4
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