Publication Date:
2019-06-28
Description:
Relative surface albedo, spectral reflectance estimates and a limited photometric function are reduced from Viking 2 lander data obtained during a 249 Mars day period, in the lander's first year, when a light ground covering appeared on the surface. During the deposition, surface broadband albedo more than doubled and blue reflectance increased by a factor of 4.0. Comparison of lander data with earlier laboratory measurements of CO2 and H2O frosts and snows shows that reflectance estimates do not resemble either of those solids. The condensate reflectance resembles that of the surface after the covering disappeared. The covering may have been colored by dust which fell before it, by dust mixed with it, or by dust on top of it; but the data strongly support a mixture of dust with H2O and CO2 solids. The covering thickness is estimated to be between 0.5 and a few millimeters.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Icarus; 47; Aug. 198
Format:
text
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