Multidisciplinary Analysis of the Nippur Sulcus Region on Ganymede

Journal
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
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DOI
Description
This research is the result of the Main-stream INAF project: “Ganimede dal 2Dal 3D: Un approccio multidisciplinare inpreparazione a JUICE,” selected by theScientific Directorate of Italy's NationalInstitute for Astrophysics (INAF) on 25March 2019 and funded with 34,000euros (INAF Grant 1.05.01.86.27). Thisresearch has made use of the USGSIntegrated Software for Imagers andSpectrometers (ISIS) and NASA's Astro-physics Data System (NASA-ADS).
Abstract
On Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede, we focus on the southern region of Nippur Sulcus, including the Epigeus palimpsest crater. This region displays geologically recent terrains and has good coverage of optical and near infrared remote sensing data, primarily returned by the NASA Galileo mission. We first use high-resolution optical imagery to carry out a detailed geological mapping. We combine hyperspectral data to infer the surface composition of this area. We then apply two theoretical models. The first is a self-similar clustering that uses the mapping of the grooves present in this region to infer the thickness of the ice shell. A second model is used to estimate the radar clutter noise induced by the estimated local topography, which is key for constraining future radar measurements. Based on all findings, we provide a possible evolutionary history of the Nippur Sulcus and Epigeus areas. This exercise shows the potential of an interdisciplinary data analysis combining wide-ranging scientific objectives such as geology, surface composition, and geophysics in view of the future close exploration that will be conducted on Ganymede by the JUICE spacecraft. Our work combines multiple analysis techniques that could be applied to other regions of interest and will prove crucial when JUICE data become available.
Volume
128
Issue
7
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
2169-9097
Ads BibCode
2023JGRE..12807836T
Rights
open.access
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