Active Volcanic Lava Flows on Venus Seen with New Technique
The European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission has provided a great amount of data from the surface and atmosphere of Earth’s inner twin planet. Among these observations was the mapping of the southern hemisphere of Venus in the near infrared spectral range using the VIRTIS (Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) instrument. However the thick and permanent cloud cover of Venus limits the achievable resolution, similar to observing a scene through fog.
“With our new technique we could combine the infrared data with much higher-resolution radar images from the NASA Magellan mission, having been in orbit about Venus from 1990 until 1992. It is the first time that — combining the datasets from two different missions — we can perform a high resolution geologic mapping of a recently active volcanic structure from the surface of a planet other than Earth.”
Search for Location and Extent of the Lava Flows
From 2006 until 2014 the ESA Venus Express probe was analyzing the atmosphere and surface of Earth’s twin planet. The Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) has provided data that indicate the occurrence of recent volcanic activity on Venus. DLR scientists Piero D’Incecco, Nils Mueller, Joern Helbert and Mario D’Amore selected the eastern flank of Idunn Mons — Imdr Regio’s single large volcano — as the study area, since it was identified in VIRTIS data as one of the regions with relatively high values of thermal emissivity at 1 micron wavelength.
Using the capabilities of specific techniques developed in the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory group at DLR in Berlin, the study intends to identify location and extent of the sources of such anomalies, thus the lava flows responsible for the relatively high emissivity observed by VIRTIS over the eastern flank of Idunn Mons. Therefore the lava flow units on the top and eastern flank of Idunn Mons are mapped, varying the values of simulated 1 micron emissivity assigned to the mapped units.
Contacts and sources:
Manuela Braun, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Anita Heward, European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC)
Dr. Jörn Helbert, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Co-Investigator VIRTIS Venus Express
Source:
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