Highly Resolved Topography and Illumination at Mercury’s South Pole from MESSENGER MDIS NAC

Mercury’s south polar region is of particular interest since Arecibo radar measurements show many high-reflectance regions consistent with ice deposits. However, current elevation information in Mercury’s southern hemisphere is not sufficient to perform detailed modeling of the illumination and ther...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Planetary Science Journal
Main Authors: Stefano Bertone, Erwan Mazarico, Michael K. Barker, Matthew A. Siegler, Jose M. Martinez-Camacho, Colin D. Hamill, Allison K. Glantzberg, Nancy L. Chabot
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023
Subjects:
Mercury (planet)
Remote sensing
Planetary polar regions
Planetary surfaces
Surface ices
Astronomy
QB1-991
South Pole
South pole
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/acaddb
https://doaj.org/article/5ac98faa9997489882fd00f02d1687cf
Description
Summary:Mercury’s south polar region is of particular interest since Arecibo radar measurements show many high-reflectance regions consistent with ice deposits. However, current elevation information in Mercury’s southern hemisphere is not sufficient to perform detailed modeling of the illumination and thermal conditions at these radar-bright locations and to constrain properties of the volatiles potentially residing there. In this work, we leverage previously existing elevation maps of Mercury’s surface from stereo-photogrammetry at 665 m pix ^−1 , Mercury Dual Imaging System Narrow Angle Camera images, and Shape-from-Shading tools from the Ames Stereo Pipeline, to provide the first high-resolution topographic maps of the south pole with a resolution of 250 m pix ^−1 poleward of 75°S. We show that the increased resolution and level of detail provided by our new elevation model allow for a more realistic recovery of illumination conditions in Mercury’s south polar region, thus opening the way to future thermal analyses and for the characterization of potential ice and volatile deposits. We compare both the old and new topographic models to the Mercury Dual Imaging System Narrow Angle Camera images to show the higher level of fidelity with our products, and we assess the improved consistency of derived permanently shadowed regions with reflectance measurements by Arecibo’s antennas.

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