IO CONTROL POINTS and the ELEVATION of GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. P. Schuster1, J. Oberst1, A. Hoffmeister1,, G. Neukum1 and the Galil
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Lunar and Planetary Science XXXI 2043.pdf IO CONTROL POINTS AND THE ELEVATION OF GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. P. Schuster1, J. Oberst1, A. Hoffmeister1,, G. Neukum1 and the Galileo SSI Team, 1DLR, Institute of Space Sensors and Planetary Exploration, 12484 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: [email protected]. Introduction There are several ways to study the topography on Io. Shadow measurements [1], photoclinometric techniques [2], and stereophotogrammetry [3,4,5] are typically used for geological studies of the surface. In contrast, control net calculations [6,7] or limb measurements [8] are traditionally more often used to study the global shape and geodesy of this Galilean satellite. In this study, we focus on the control point network method. With images from the GEM, the quality of the Io control point network has greatly improved. We attempted to generate control points in the areas of known geological features, e.g. mountains and active plume centers, to demonstrate that control point heights can be used to study the morphology of geological features. Images and Control Points Images obtained during the GEM, allowed us to recently update our control net, spanning over 360 degrees of Fig.1: Boösaule Mons, control points longitude and ranging from +60 to -60 degrees latitude. ———————————————————————— The polar latitudes were not accessible for this study, Point 1 2 3 4 5 6 because Galileos orbit was essentially equatorial and ———————————————————————— measurements to closer than 30 degrees to the limb proved Elevation [km] 8.8 14.6 15.8 2.1 -2.0 1.6 to be inaccurate. Error [km] 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 We selected 26 images (out of a total of several hundred) ———————————————————————— with resolutions ranging from 2.4 to 15.3 from orbits 1-22. At time of writing our network consists of 411 control relative height with respect to the surrounding area points, derived from more than 3222 point measurements (average height of points 4-6) is 15.3 km. This result in the images. confirms previous measurements by Schenk et al. [3,4]. Owing to properties of Galileo's orbit and imaging plan, the accuracy of the control points varies over the surface of The peak of Euxine Mons (lat.26°,lon.126°, see fig.2) has Io. Control points on the antijovian hemisphere have an absolute height of 7.2 km +/- 1.6 km. The relative typical accuracies twice as good as points between height of Euxine Mons vs. Maui is 8.0 km, vs. Amirani 8.3 longitude 330° and 30°. The average one sigma error of km, with the distance to Maui and Amirani being 300 km. the coordinates is 2.67 km. Shadow-length measurements by Carr et al. [1]. suggest that the height for Euxine Mons is 7.4 km. New Control Point Measurements and Results Skythia Mons (lat.22°,lon.100°, see fig.2) reaches an The control points included in the control net elevation of 2.9 +/- 2.1 km. Comparison with the elevation calculations were selected only according to two of Amirani (distance 450 km) gives a relative height of 4.0 technical criterias, good identification in as many images km. Shadow measurements again by Carr et al. [1] report as possible and homogeneous coverage of the surface. heights of 4.6 km. Having the control net established we can now go another step ahead and select control points near features of geological interest, with the goal to obtain Table 1: Mountain elevations morphological information on these features. Four ———————————————————————— mountain areas were studied in the following (note that Mountain Elevation Errors all elevations refer to the reference ellipsoid a=1831.25 ———————————————————————— km, b=1820.41 km, c=1816.91 km . Boosaule Mons S 15.8 2.9 Boosaule Mons N 14.6 2.9 Boössaule Mons (lat.-10°, lon.272°, see fig.1) is the Euxine Mons 7.2 1.6 highest mountain on Io reported yet [3,4]. Three control Lat 26°, lon.105° 3.9 2.6 points near the peaks were selected, and their elevations Skythia Mons 2.9 2.1 determined (Fig.1). To derive the height relative to the ———————————————————————— surrounding area, three points at the base of the mountains All heights are given in km and with respect to the were also selected. The absolute height of Boössaule reference ellipsoid, a=1831.25 km, b=1820.41 km, Mons (South) is 15.8 km.; Boösaule Mons (North) is 14.6 c=1816.91 km. Error is one sigma. km high. The one sigma error for both is 2.9 km. The Lunar and Planetary Science XXXI 2043.pdf IO CONTROL POINT AND THE ELEVATION OF GEOLOGICAL FEATURES: P. SCHUSTER ET AL Unnamed Mountain (lat.16°,lon.105°, see fig.2) south of but not on the ground at time of writing. The resolution of Skythia Mons has an elevation 3.9 +/- 2.6 km. Relative to this image (3.4 km/pixel) is nearly twice the resolution of Amirani (distance 320 km), its height is 5.0 km. other images in this area. With these images, our control net from Galileo data will consist of approx. 60 images. Active Plume Centers. Elevations for seven centers of We are also in the process of evaluating the potential of plume activity have been derived. Control point Voyager images to improve the control net on sub-jovian measurements near plume centers are particularly difficult, hemispheres. owing to changes in the appearance of the areas from time to time, caused by volcanic activity or chemical processes. References. References: [1] Carr M.H. et al. (1998) Icarus Often, surface features are masked by ejecta plumes. 135, 146 - 165. [2] Moore J. M. et al. (1986) Icarus 67, Volcanic centers are believed to be typically associated 181-183 [3] Schenk P.M. and Bulmer M.H. (1998) Science with flat lowlands rather than topographic rises. Our 279 1514-1517. [4] Schenk P.M. and Hargitai H. (1998) results confirm that the elevations of plume centers are BAAS 30, 1121. [5] Schuster et al. (1997) EGS XXIII, distributed around the zero-level as definded by the C828. [6] Gaskel et al. (19889 Geopys. Res. Lett. 15, 581- ellipsoid. 584. [7] Davies et al. (1998) Icarus 135, 372-376. [8] Thomas et al. (1998) Icarus 135, 175-180. [9] Moore J.M. Table 1: Elevations of active plume centers et al. (2000) LPSC XXXI. [10] Turtle E.P. et al. —————————————————————— (2000) LPSC XXXI. Plume center Elevation Errors —————————————————————— Amirani -1.1 1.9 Maui and Maui Patera -0.8 1.8 Prometheus -1.3 1.9 Culann -2.9 2.0 Zamana 1.1 1.8 Volund 0.8 1.8 Marduk 0.9 1.6 —————————————————————— All heights are given in km and with respect to the reference ellipsoid, a=1831.25 km, b=1820.41 km, c=1816.91 km. Error is one sigma. Fig.1: Control Points at Amirani (1-3), Maui (4,5), Maui Patera (6), Skythia Mons (7), Unamed (8), Euxine Mons (9). ———————————————————————— Point 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ———————————————————————— Elevation [km] -0.9-0.9-1.5-0.9-0.6-0.92.9 3.9 7.2 Error [km] 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.81.8 2.1 2.6 1.6 ———————————————————————— Future Plans We are in the process of including images with 1.3 – 1.5 km resolutions from orbits C21 and I24 having the expectation that they will further improve the accuracy of points near the antijovian longitudes. Another image was obtained in the area of Loki taken on the third of January,.