PSI Personnel
External Partners
- NASA GSFC
- USGS Flagstaff
Project Description
Despite the 4 in the name, this effort represents the third phase of the Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) Project.
Building on prior results from the Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) Team, we are carrying out work presented as portions of three main tasks:
Task A – Advanced geomorphological analysis
Task A1 consists of grid mapping of geomorphological features using MRO CTX imagery of the northern hemisphere at the same scales achieved previously in the southern hemisphere and the Tharsis region (SWIM 2.0; Putzig et al., in review). For Phase 1a, we will begin with mapping in grid cells of 4° x 4° between 16°N and 40°N in the SWIM 1.0 (Morgan et al., 2021) longitude band (-70°E to 225°E). These results will be used to guide the choice of a 10° band of varying center latitude across the same longitude range for 1° x 1° grid-cell mapping, aimed at identifying the equatorward boundary of features associated with buried ice. Products will feed into Task B and deliverables from this task will consist of polygon shapefiles and associated attribute tables delineating the presence of mapped features, updating to the SWIM 2.0 geomorphology maps (see https://swim.psi.edu/SWIM2Products.php).
Task A2 consists of HiRISE surveys of polygonal terrain associated with ice-exposing impacts, and will be carried out in 5° bands of latitude centered on the equatorward limit of buried ice as established by CTX geomorphic mapping in 1° x 1° grid cells during SWIM 2.0 and Task A1. Products will feed into Task B and also be supplied to JPL’s Capturing Onboard Summarization to Monitor Image Change (COSMIC) team for use with their machine-learning application. Deliverables from this task will consist of polygon shapefiles (with each polygon representing the outline of the HiRISE image mapped) and an associated attribute table containing an indicator of presence of polygons (yes/no) and type of polygon.
Task B – Layered ice-consistency and ice-concentration mapping
Task B1 consists of the generation of new 3-layer maps of ice consistency using the revised inputs from Task A and the previously established SWIM equations (Putzig et al., 2023). Products will feed into Task C and deliverables from this task will consist of GeoTIFF maps, updating the SWIM 2.0 composite ice-consistency maps (see https://swim.psi.edu/SWIM2Products.php).
Task B2 nominally consists of the generation of new maps of the probability of buried ice at specific concentrations using Bayesian statistics. However, we are not including any effort on Task B2 as part of SWIM 4 MIM Phase 1a.
Task C – Administration and analysis and dissemination of results
Task C1 consists of (a) 0.05 FTE for providing detailed feedback and implementing any changes required by JPL/NASA resulting from monthly status updates to be carried out by teleconference, (b) 0.10 FTE for analyzing results from Tasks A and B1 in terms of their implications for buried ice properties and how they inform future efforts and planning for the International Mars Ice Mapper (MIM) mission, (c) 0.05 FTE preparing and presenting interim and final results for a nominal set of 3 events (e.g., MIM or NASA working groups) and for a final review with JPL/NASA, and (d) 0.10 FTE for preparing mapping products (browse versions of the maps, ancillary readme files, and additional maps) and associated documentation for public release and modifying the https://swim.psi.edu website accordingly.
Task C2 nominally consists of preparation and presentation of results at the Fall 2021 AGU and 2022 LPSC meetings and the production of one or more manuscripts describing the results for journal publication. However, we are not including any effort (or travel costs) on Task C2 as part of SWIM 4 MIM Phase 1a.