P055-0005
Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (Swim) Project: Characterizing the Inventory of Nonpolar Ice on Mars
Monday, 14 December 2020
Poster
Gareth A Morgan1, Nathaniel E Putzig2, Zachary Mason Bain2, David M. H. Baker3, Ali M Bramson4, Samuel Weston Courville2,5, Colin M Dundas6, Rachael Hoover7, Stefano Nerozzi8, Asmin Pathare9, Matthew Perry10, Eric Petersen11, Hanna G Sizemore12, Bruce A Campbell13, Marco Mastrogiuseppe14 and Isaac B Smith15, (1)Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, DC, United States, (2)Planetary Science Institute, Lakewood, CO, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States, (5)Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States, (6)U. S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (7)Blueprint Earth, Walnut, CA, United States, (8)University of Arizona, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Tucson, AZ, United States, (9)Planetary Science Institute, Pasadena, CA, United States, (10)Planetary Science Institute Albuquerque, Lakewood, CO, United States, (11)University of Texas, Institute for Geophysics, Austin, TX, United States, (12)Planetary Science Institute, Marlinton, WV, United States, (13)Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, United States, (14)Università La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Rome, Italy, (15)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Mars is an ice-rich planet that offers an exceptional laboratory with which to study planetary cryosphere dynamics. Outside of the polar caps, most of the perennial ice deposits - both in equilibrium with the atmosphere and relict - are buried below the surface. Knowledge of the extent, depth, age, and nature of nonpolar ice is therefore essential to our understanding of the Martian climate and history of the planet.
Mapping subsurface ice on Mars is a significant challenge. The goal of the NASA-commissioned SWIM project is to derive maps of near-surface ice via the synthesis of multiple ice-characterization techniques that draw from neutron spectrometer, thermal, geomorphic, and radar-based datasets. Leveraging multiple datasets with different probing depths and sensitivities to the presence of ice facilitates assessment of the location and depth of the ice table. Putzig et al. [this conference] will describe the techniques and data integration employed to generate the SWIM mapping products and Sizemore et al. [this conference] will detail the methodology and results of the thermal/neutron component of SWIM. Although motivated by the need to map ice resources for future missions, SWIM products also offer an important toolset for scientific investigations (products can be downloaded from our website: https://swim.psi.edu).
We will present new and ongoing analyses that subdivide the SWIM ice maps into their constituent units based on their broad properties. These results provide an integrated assessment of the occurrence and purity of ice at depths ranging from <1 to >100 m. With the aim of constraining the nature of Mars ice deposition through time, we will use the SWIM maps to assess unit age and emplacement (e.g. glacial, mantle deposits, interstitial pore-filling ice) and thus provide a framework to further explore the Amazonian climate history of Mars.
