Geology and mineralogy of the Auki Crater, Tyrrhena Terra, Mars: A possible post impact-induced hydrothermal system

A variety of hydrothermal environments have been documented in terrestrial impact structures. Due to both past water interactions and meteoritic bombardment on the surface of Mars, several authors have predicted various scenarios that include the formation of hydrothermal systems. Geological and mineralogical evidence of past hydrothermal activity have only recently been found on Mars. Here, we present a geological and mineralogical study of the Auki Crater using the spectral and visible imagery data acquired by the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars), CTX (Context Camera) and HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) instruments on board the NASA MRO mission. The Auki Crater is a complex crater that is ∼38 km in diameter located in Tyrrhena Terra (96.8°E and 15.7°S) and shows a correlation between its mineralogy and morphology. The presence of minerals, such as smectite, silica, zeolite, serpentine, carbonate and chlorite, associated with morphological structures, such as mounds, polygonal terrains, fractures and veins, suggests that the Auki Crater may have hosted a post impact-induced hydrothermal system. Although the distribution of hydrated minerals in and around the central uplift and the stratigraphic relationships of some morphological units could also be explained by the excavation and exhumation of carbonate-rich bedrock units as a consequence of crater formation, we favor the hypothesis of impact-induced hydrothermal circulation within fractures and subsequent mineral deposition. The hydrothermal system could have been active for a relatively long period of time after the impact, thus producing a potential transient habitable environment. It must be a spectrally neutral component to emphasize the spectral features; It is an average of spectra taken in the same column of the numerator spectra to correct the residual instrument artifacts and reduce detector noise that changes from column to column; It must be taken in the neighborhood of the area of interest to reduce most of the common mineral component. It is not always possible to satisfy all of the criteria listed above and this must be taken into account in the interpretation of the ratioed spectra. Moreover, this procedure works well if the denominator spectra have a phase similar to that of numerator spectra, but, as we will see, that is not always the case. The ratioed spectra may continue to have multiple phases that contribute to the spectrum with its spectral features (Wiseman et al., 2013). For this reason, when we compare a ratioed spectrum with those from the laboratory, it must be taken into account that more phases may continue to affect the band positions.For the geological and morphometric analyses, we used high-resolution imagery and topography from ESA Mars Express and NASA MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) missions. In particular, HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera, Neukum et al., 2004) data (visible nadir image at 12.5 m/pixel and stereo-derived topography at 100 m/pixel) were used for the overall crater context, while CTX (ConTeXt, Malin et al., 2007) and HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, McEwen et al., 2007) images supported the detailed analysis of the floor and central part of the crater. The latter two datasets were also used to derive high-resolution topography (down to 7 m/pixel from CTX and 1 m/pixel from HiRISE) through the NASA Stereo Pipeline software (Moratto et al., 2010). All of the data were georeferenced and co-registered using the equirectangular projection and the Mars IAU2000 reference ellipsoid. Finally, the imagery, spectral data and topography were imported into the GIS (Geographic Information System, ArcGIS v.10.2.2) environment to obtain a multitemporal/multisensor/multiscale view of the studied crater. We delineated the map units, taking into account their morphology/morphometry, surface properties, texture at different scales (e.g., relative tonal differences from visible imagery, thermal inertia, rough or smooth texture), and their internal sedimentary structure when possible (from erosional windows, crater walls or scarps). The latter approach allowed us to i) identify the main geological/geomorphological units and to ii) correlate the defined units with the mineralogical observations from CRISM (Figs. 1 and 4).</ce:section

Dynamics investigation in the Venus upper atmosphere

The O_2 nightglow emissions in the infrared spectral range are important features to investigate dynamics at the mesospheric altitudes, in the planetary atmosphere. In this work, we analyzed the profiles obtained at limb by the VIRTIS spectrometer on board the Venus Express mission, acquired during the mission period from 2006-07-05 to 2008-08-15 to investigate possible gravity waves characteristics at the airglow altitudes. Indeed, several profiles present double peaked structures that can be interpreted as due to gravity waves. In analogy to the Earth's and Mars cases, we use a well-known theory to model the O_2 nightglow emissions affected by gravity waves propagation, in order to support this thesis and derive the waves properties. We discuss results from 30 profiles showing double peaked structures, focusing on vertical wavelength and wave amplitude of the possible gravity waves. On average, the double peaked profiles are compatible with the effects of gravity waves with a vertical wavelength ranging between 7 and 16 km, and wave amplitude of 3-14%. A comparison with gravity waves properties in the Mars and Earth's atmospheres, using the same theory, is also proposed \citep{altieri_2014}. \ The research is supported by ASI (contract ASI-INAF I/050/10/0)

Strong variability of Martian water ice clouds during dust storms revealed from ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/NOMAD

Observations of water ice clouds and aerosols on Mars can provide important insights into the complexity of the water cycle. Recent observations have indicated an important link between dust activity and the water cycle, as intense dust activity can significantly raise the hygropause, and subsequently increase the escape of water after dissociation in the upper atmosphere. Here present observations from NOMAD/TGO that investigate the variation of water ice clouds in the perihelion season of Mars Year 34 (April 2018‐19), their diurnal and seasonal behavior, and the vertical structure and microphysical properties of water ice and dust. These observations reveal the recurrent presence of a layer of mesospheric water ice clouds subsequent to the 2018 Global Dust Storm. We show that this layer rose from 45 to 80 km in altitude on a timescale of days from heating in the lower atmosphere due to the storm. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a strong dawn dusk asymmetry in water ice abundance, related to nighttime nucleation and subsequent daytime sublimation. Water ice particle sizes are retrieved consistently and exhibit sharp vertical gradients (from 0.1 to 4.0 μm), as well as mesospheric differences between the Global Dust Storm (<0.5 μm) and the 2019 regional dust storm (1.0 μm), which suggests differing water ice nucleation efficiencies. These results form the basis to advance our understanding of mesospheric water ice clouds on Mars, and further constrain the interactions between water ice and dust in the middle atmosphere

Removal of atmospheric features in near infrared spectra by means of principal component analysis and target transformation on Mars: I. Method

Acknowledgments We thank the Italian Institute of Astrophysics INAF for the financial support within the project PRIN-INAF 2011. We are thankful to OMEGA team and ESA staff for scientific, operational and technical supports.The aim of this work is to extract the surface contribution in the martian visible/near-infrared spectra removing the atmospheric components by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and target transformation (TT). The developed technique is suitable for separating spectral components in a data set large enough to enable an effective usage of statistical methods, in support to the more common approaches to remove the gaseous component. In this context, a key role is played by the estimation, from the spectral population, of the covariance matrix that describes the statistical correlation of the signal among different points in the spectrum. As a general rule, the covariance matrix becomes more and more meaningful increasing the size of initial population, justifying therefore the importance of sizable datasets. Data collected by imaging spectrometers, such as the OMEGA (Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité) instrument on board the ESA mission Mars Express (MEx), are particularly suitable for this purpose since it includes in the same session of observation a large number of spectra with different content of aerosols, gases and mineralogy. The methodology presented in this work has been first validated using a simulated dataset of spectra to evaluate its accuracy. Then, it has been applied to the analysis of OMEGA sessions over Nili Fossae and Mawrth Vallis regions, which have been already widely studied because of the presence of hydrated minerals. These minerals are key components of the surface to investigate the presence of liquid water flowing on the martian surface in the Noachian period. Moreover, since a correction for the atmospheric aerosols (dust) component is also applied to these observations, the present work is able to completely remove the atmospheric contribution from the analysed spectra. Once the surface reflectance, free from atmospheric contributions, has been obtained, the Modified Gaussian Model (MGM) has been applied to spectra showing the hydrated phase. Silicates and iron-bearing hydrated minerals have been identified by means of the electronic transitions of Fe2+ between 0.8 and 1.2 μm, while at longer wavelengths the hydrated mineralogy is identified by overtones of the OH group. Surface reflectance spectra, as derived through the method discussed in this paper, clearly show a lower level of the atmospheric residuals in the 1.9 hydration band, thus resulting in a better match with the MGM deconvolution parameters found for the laboratory spectra of martian hydrated mineral analogues and allowing a deeper investigation of this spectral range. <P /

Martian Atmospheric Aerosols Composition and Distribution Retrievals During the First Martian Year of NOMAD/TGO Solar Occultation Measurements: 1. Methodology and Application to the MY 34 Global Dust Storm

Since the beginning of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) science operations in April 2018, its instrument “Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery” (NOMAD) supplies detailed observations of the IR spectrums of the Martian atmosphere. We developed a procedure that allows us to evaluate the composition and distribution\u27s parameters of the atmospheric Martian aerosols. We use a retrieval program (RCP) in conjunction with a radiative forward model (KOPRA) to evaluate the vertical profile of aerosol extinction from NOMAD measurements. We then apply a model/data fitting strategy of the aerosol extinction. In this first article, we describe the method used to evaluate the parameters representing the Martian aerosol composition and size distribution. MY 34 GDS showed a peak intensity from L$_S$ 190° to 210°. During this period, the aerosol content rises multiple scale height, reaching altitudes up to 100 km. The lowermost altitude of aerosol\u27s detection during NOMAD observation rises up to 30 km. Dust aerosols r$_{eff}$ were observed to be close to 1 μm and its ν$_{eff}$ lower than 0.2. Water ice aerosols r$_{eff}$ were observed to be submicron with a ν$_{eff}$ lower than 0.2. The vertical aerosol structure can be divided in two parts. The lower layers are represented by higher r$_{eff}$ than the upper layers. The change between the lower and upper layers is very steep, taking only few kilometers. The decaying phase of the GDS, LS 210°–260°, shows a decrease in altitude of the aerosol content but no meaningful difference in the observed aerosol\u27s size distribution parameters

Martian Atmospheric Aerosols Composition and Distribution Retrievals During the First Martian Year of NOMAD/TGO Solar Occultation Measurements: 2. Extended Results, End of MY 34 and First Half of MY 35

This is the second part of Stolzenbach et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JE007276), named hereafter Paper I, extends the period to the end of MY 34 and the first half of MY 35. This encompasses the end phase of the MY 34 Global Dust Storm (GDS), the MY 34 C-Storm, the Aphelion Cloud Belt (ACB) season of MY 35, and an unusual early dust event of MY 35 from L$_S$ 30° to L$_S$ 55°. The end of MY 34 overall aerosol size distribution shows the same parameters for dust and water ice to what was seen during the MY 34 GDS. Interestingly, the layered water ice vertical structure of MY 34 GDS disappears. The MY 34 C-Storm maintains condition like the MY 34 GDS. A high latitude layer of bigger water ice particles, close to 1 μm, is seen from 50 to 60 km. This layered structure is linked to an enhanced meridional transport characteristic of high intensity dust event which put the MY 34 C-Storm as particularly intense compared to non-GDS years C-Storms as previously suggested by Holmes et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117109). Surprisingly, MY 35 began with an unusually large dust event (Kass et al., 2020, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020AGUFMP039…01K) found in the Northern hemisphere during L$_S$ 35° to L$_S$ 50°. During this dust event, the altitude of aerosol first detection is roughly equal to 20 km. This is close to the values encountered during the MY 34 GDS, its decay phase and the C-Storm of the same year. Nonetheless, no vertical layered structure was observed

The visible and near infrared module of EChO

The Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) is one of the modules of EChO, the Exoplanets Characterization Observatory proposed to ESA for an M-class mission. EChO is aimed to observe planets while transiting by their suns. Then the instrument had to be designed to assure a high efficiency over the whole spectral range. In fact, it has to be able to observe stars with an apparent magnitude Mv = 9-12 and to see contrasts of the order of 10-4-10-5 necessary to reveal the characteristics of the atmospheres of the exoplanets under investigation. VNIR is a spectrometer in a cross-dispersed configuration, covering the 0.4-2.5 μm spectral range with a resolving power of about 330 and a field of view of 2 arcsec. It is functionally split into two channels respectively working in the 0.4-1.0 μm and 1.0-2.5 μm spectral ranges. Such a solution is imposed by the fact the light at short wavelengths has to be shared with the EChO Fine Guiding System (FGS) devoted to the pointing of the stars under observation. The spectrometer makes use of a HgCdTe detector of 512 by 512 pixels, 18 μm pitch and working at a temperature of 45 K as the entire VNIR optical bench. The instrument has been interfaced to the telescope optics by two optical fibers, one per channel, to assure an easier coupling and an easier colocation of the instrument inside the EChO optical bench. <P /

Minimum Noise Fraction Analysis of TGO/NOMAD LNO Channel High-Resolution Nadir Spectra of Mars

NOMAD is a suite of spectrometers on the board of the ESA-Roscosmos Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft and is capable of investigating the Martian environment at very high spectral resolution in the ultraviolet–visible and infrared spectral ranges by means of three separate channels: UVIS (0.2–0.65 μm), LNO (2.2–3.8 μm), and SO (2.3–4.3 μm). Among all channels, LNO is the only one operating at infrared wavelengths in nadir-viewing geometry, providing information on the whole atmospheric column and on the surface. Unfortunately, the LNO data are characterized by an overall low level of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), limiting their contribution to the scientific objectives of the TGO mission. In this study, we assess the possibility of enhancing LNO nadir data SNR by applying the Minimum Noise Fraction (MNF), a well-known algorithm based on the Principal Components technique that has the advantage of providing transform eigenvalues ordered with increasing noise. We set up a benchmark process on an ensemble of synthetic spectra in order to optimize the algorithm specifically for LNO datasets. We verify that this optimization is limited by the presence of spectral artifacts introduced by the MNF itself, and the maximum achievable SNR is dependent on the scientific purpose of the analysis. MNF application study cases are provided to LNO data subsets in the ranges 2.627–2.648 μm and 2.335–2.353 μm (spectral orders 168 and 189, respectively) covering absorption features of gaseous H2O and CO and CO2 ice, achieving a substantial enhancement in the quality of the observations, whose SNR increases up to a factor of 10. While such an enhancement is still not enough to enable the investigation of spectral features of faint trace gases (in any case featured in orders whose spectral calibration is not fully reliable, hence preventing the application of the MNF), interesting perspectives for improving retrieval of both atmospheric and surface features from LNO nadir data are implied

Detection of green line emission in the dayside atmosphere of Mars from NOMAD-TGO observations

The oxygen emission at 557.7 nm is a ubiquitous component of the spectrum of the terrestrial polar aurora and the reason for its usual green colour1. It is also observed as a thin layer of glow surrounding the Earth near 90 km altitude in the dayside atmosphere2,3 but it has so far eluded detection in other planets. Here we report dayglow observations of the green line outside the Earth. They have been performed with the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery ultraviolet and visible spectrometer instrument on board the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Using a special observation mode, scans of the dayside limb provide the altitude distribution of the intensity of the 557.7 nm line and its variability. Two intensity peaks are observed near 80 and 120 km altitude, corresponding to photodissociation of CO2 by solar Lyman α and extreme ultraviolet radiation, respectively. A weaker emission, originating from the same upper level of the oxygen atom, is observed in the near ultraviolet at 297.2 nm. These simultaneous measurements of both oxygen lines make it possible to directly derive a ratio of 16.5 between the visible and ultraviolet emissions, and thereby clarify a controversy between discordant ab initio calculations and atmospheric measurements that has persisted despite multiple efforts. This ratio is considered a standard for measurements connecting the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions. This result has consequences for the study of auroral and airglow processes and for spectral calibration