Surface Clutter and Echo Location Analysis for the Interpretation of SHARAD Data From Mars

This letter presents a suite of analysis techniques designed to support the interpretation of data from the Shallow Radar on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Cross-track surface echoes ("clutter") with a time delay similar to potential subsurface echoes are known to present a major challenge t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters 2016-09, Vol.13 (9), p.1285-1289
Main Authors: Choudhary, Prateek, Holt, John W., Kempf, Scott D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clutter
Cluttergram
Echo sounding
Echo surveys
incoherent radar simulation
Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Mars surface
Optical surface waves
Orbitals
planetary radar
Radar
Radar clutter
shallow radar (SHARAD)
Slopes
Surface topography
Surface waves
Topography
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This letter presents a suite of analysis techniques designed to support the interpretation of data from the Shallow Radar on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Cross-track surface echoes ("clutter") with a time delay similar to potential subsurface echoes are known to present a major challenge to orbital radar sounding; furthermore, we demonstrate that the broad beam pattern of orbital sounders combined with cross-track long-wavelength surface slopes can result in first-received echoes arising from locations significantly distant from the nadir point, further hindering interpretation. Combining known surface topography (of lower resolution than the radar wavelength) with an appropriate radar model and orbital parameters, we can simultaneously address both of these challenges. Our technique has been applied to a variety of scientific targets on Mars with success and is recommended as a standard practice.
ISSN:1545-598X
1558-0571
DOI:10.1109/LGRS.2016.2581799