Pathare is continuing to study the role of water ice flow in the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD). He and Bruce Murray of Caltech will soon be submitting a manuscript concerning the implications of stratigraphic anomalies observed within the NPLD, the topography of which appears to be most consistent with flow. Pathare has also collaborated with glaciologists at the University of Washington (Winebrenner, Waddington, and Koutnik) in their efforts to apply a terrestrial inverse flow model to Mars: our soon-to-be-published work provides strong theoretical evidence for ice flow within the NPLD prior to trough formation. This year, Pathare and collaborators will propose to expand their investigation of glacial flow to other locales on Mars.
Pathare has also been working with Bill Durham of MIT to make laboratory measurements of the rheological properties of dust-laden water ice undergoing grain size sensitive creep at Martian conditions. They will soon be submitting a manusript that more firmly constrains the minimum water ice content required to enable viscous creep, which is a key parameter for determining the global volatile inventory contained within subsurface Martian permafrost. Our MFR proposal extending this work has recently been selected. Lastly, Pathare continues to work with fellow PSI researchers David Crown and Frank Chuang on viscous creep modeling of mid-latitude craters and debris aprons, simulations which Pathare has proposed to constrain using subsurface radar data from SHARAD and MARSIS.
D. P. Winebrenner, M. Koutnik, E. D. Waddington, A. V. Pathare, B. C. Murray, S. Byrne, J. L. Bamber; Evidence for Ice Flow Prior to Trough Formation in the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits; Icarus, in press.
A. V. Pathare, B. C. Murray; Five Questionable Assertions About the Recent Mass Balance of the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits; 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2007), Abstract #1338.
W. B. Durham, A. V. Pathare, L. A. Stern; The Brittle-Ductile Transition in Mixtures of Rock and Ice: Experiments at Planetary Conditions; Seventh International Conference on Mars (2007), Abstract #3056.
D. P. Winebrenner, M. Koutnik, E. D. Waddington, A. V. Pathare, B. C. Murray, S. Byrne, J. L. Bamber; Evidence for Ice Flow and Subsequent, Rapid Trough Formation on the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits; Seventh International Conference on Mars (2007), Abstract #1353.
D. P. Winebrenner, J. W. Holt, A, Safaeinili, M. Koutnik, E. D. Waddington, A. V. Pathare, S. Byrne, B.. C. Murray; A Test for Past Ice Flow in the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits Based on Observed Layer Stratigraphy; American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting (2007), Abstract #P33A-1012.