DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7509290
title: Data files used in the paper "First Radar Evidence of Large-Scale Englacial Folding in the South Polar Layered Deposits (Ultimi Scopuli, Mars) and Possible Ice Sheet Flow Unveiled by MARSIS" By Guallini et al.

description: This archive contains radargrams, geometric information and visualizations of a subset of MARSIS radar observations over Planum Australe, Mars. This archive contains everything needed to reproduce the results presented in the paper "Large-scale folds detected by MARSIS in the Southern ice sheet of Ultimi Scopuli (Mars)" by Guallini et al.


Three types of MARSIS data files are contained in this archive:


* orbit_XXXXX_frequency_Y_MHz_radargram.csv, where XXXXX is the orbit number, and Y the frequency at which the radar was operating, in MHz. The file contains an ASCII table of real numbers separated by commas. The table has as many columns as the number of radar echoes acquired during the orbit (usually 3200), and 980 lines, one for each echo sample. Values are samples of the uncalibrated echo voltage, without phase information (i.e. positive real numbers instead of complex echo samples). Echo samples are acquired every 0.3571 microseconds (2.8 MHz sampling rate). The first sample of an echo is located at a round-trip time corresponding to an altitude of 25 km above the Martian IAU ellipsoid.


* orbit_XXXXX_frequency_Y_MHz_geometry.csv, where XXXXX is the orbit number, and Y the frequency at which the radar was operating, in MHz. The file contains an ASCII table of real numbers separated by commas. The table has as many rows as the number of radar echoes acquired during the orbit (usually 3200), and contains the following auxiliary parameters:


 - EPHEMERIS TIME - Number of seconds elapsed since Jan 1, 2000, 12:00 UTC corresponding to the time at which data collection for the current echo started.


 - MARS SOLAR LONGITUDE - Angle between the Mars-Sun line at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME and the Mars-Sun line at the vernal equinox, in degrees.


 - MARS SUN DISTANCE - Distance from the centre of Mars to centre of the Sun at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, in Km.


 - SPACECRAFT ALTITUDE - Distance from the Mars Express spacecraft to the reference surface of the target body measured normal to the surface at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed in Km.


 - SUB-SPACECRAFT LONGITUDE - East longitude of the point on the target body that lies closest to the Mars Express spacecraft at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed in degrees and in the [ 0 -360 ] range.


 - SUB-SPACECRAFT LATITUDE - Planetocentric latitude of the point on the target body that lies directly beneath the Mars Express spacecraft at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed in degrees.


 - RADIAL VELOCITY - Radial component of the Mars Express spacecraft velocity vector in the reference frame of the target body at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed in Km/s.


 - TANGENTIAL VELOCITY - Tangential component of the Mars Express spacecraft velocity vector in the reference frame of the target body at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed in Km/s.


 - LOCAL TRUE SOLAR TIME - Angle between the extension of the vector from the Sun to Mars and the projection on Mars' ecliptic plane of a vector from the center of the target body and the point on the target body surface that lies directly beneath the Mars Express spacecraft at the time corresponding to EPHEMERIS TIME, expressed on a 24-hour clock with decimal fractions of the hour.


* orbit_XXXXX_frequency_Y_MHz.png, where XXXXX is the orbit number, and Y the frequency at which the radar was operating, in MHz. The file is a visualization of the corresponding radargram, of the spacecraft ground track during the observation, and of surface and subsurface echo power.