GEODES Data

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Geophysical Exploration Of the Dynamics and Evolution of the Solar System (GEODES) is led by Nicholas Schmerr, an associate professor in the Department of Geology, and Jacob Richardson, a research scientist in the Department of Astronomy at University of Maryland College Park. The multi-institutional team includes researchers from CalTech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Eureka Scientific, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Johnson Space Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, National Institute for Standards and Technology, Northern Arizona University, Planetary Science Institute, Southwest Research Institute, Stony Brook University, U.S. Geological Survey Flagstaff, University of Arizona, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Notre Dame, and the University of South Florida.

The GEODES team uses field studies on Earth to develop and test protocols for characterizing the evolution, stability, and safety of surfaces on the Moon, near-Earth asteroids, and martian moons Phobos and Deimos. The team conducts their research at a variety of field sites in the western U.S., including Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California, the San Francisco Volcanic Field in northern Arizona, and the East Snake River Plain in southern Idaho. These sites are home to landscapes and geological features that resemble other rocky bodies in our solar system.

Astronauts on future missions to nearby moons and asteroids will need a detailed geological understanding of these foreign worlds to build structures, mine resources and ensure their own safety. Data derived from GEODES field expeditions, modeling efforts, and products are made available to the public in this data collection by our team.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    LiDAR and Magnetic Data for: Field Mapping and Modeling of Terrestrial Lava Tube Magnetic Anomalies as an Analog for Lunar Lava Tube Exploration and Prospecting
    (2022) Bell, Ernest; Schmerr, Nicholas; Richardson, Jacob; Whelley, Patrick; Young, Kelsey; Garry, Brent
    Archived are Magnetic and LiDAR data collected at Lava Beds National Monument by the NASA funded TUBEX project (Dr. Kelsey Young – PI) in 2017 and 2018. The archived data are for a paper submitted to a JGR Planets special issue on Exploring Planetary Caves as Windows into Subsurface Geology, Habitability, and Astrology with the title: Field Mapping and Modeling of Terrestrial Lava Tube Magnetic Anomalies as an Analog for Lunar Lava Tube Exploration and Prospecting. We use observed data and detailed magnetic models to understand the practicality of mapping magnetic anomalies to determine lava tube locations and internal geometries within a lava flow.
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    Northwest Greenland Active Source Seismic Experiment
    (2021) Schmerr, Nicholas; Maguire, Ross; Pettit, Erin; Riverman, Kiya; Gardner, Christyna; DellaGiustina, Daniella; Avenson, Brad; Wagner, Natalie; Marusiak, Angela; Habib, Namrah; Broadbeck, Juliette; Bray, Veronica; Bailey, Samuel; Carr, Christina; Dahl, Peter; Weber, Renee
    In summer of 2018, the Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure (SIIOS) team conducted a geophysical field investigation on the Greenland ice sheet in northwestern Greenland at a location where a previous airborne radar survey by Palmer et al. (2013) had detected the signatures of a subglacial lake. The field site is located approximately 50 km north of the town of Qaanaaq. This site was chosen for the SIIOS project as it provides an opportunity for studying how a lander station could be used to detect subsurface water at an icy-ocean world. The purpose of the investigation was to confirm the presence of the subglacial lake and to measure its physical properties such as seismic impedance, as well as to estimate its depth and volume. One component of the investigation consisted of an active source seismic survey that was used to create a reflection image of the lake, as well as to measure the ice-bottom reflection coefficient. The survey was conducted along a roughly northeast oriented traverse, which started above the subglacial lake and crossed the lake’s eastern boundary.
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    Skull Cave LiDAR Point Cloud - TubeX
    (2021) Whelley, Patrick; Garry, W. Brent; Young, Kelsey; Richardson, Jacob
    Archived are Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data collected at Lava Beds National Monument by the NASA funded TUBEX project (Dr. Kelsey Young – PI) and the “LiDAR-Team” in 2017 and 2018. This team was led by Dr. Patrick Whelley and included Drs. W. Brent Garry and Jacob Richardson as well as the rest of the TUBEX Team. The instrument used to collect the LiDAR data was a Riegl VZ-400 tripod mounted terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). The data are tiled for storage and ease of download.