Radar signatures of sediment availability-limited dune-fields and playas on Earth as a Titan analog.

Abstract:

Large areas within the dune fields that mantle the equatorial regions of Saturn's moon, Titan appear to be sand availability-limited. These areas occur at dune field margins and in the inferred lee-side of topographic obstacles within the dune fields. Viewed with Cassini radar, these areas are lighter-toned than radar dark dunes, which implies radar scattering off of a rough surface. Otherwise, these areas have no geomorphologic structure visible at the spatial resolution of the Cassini radar. Within dune environments rough, sediment-availability limited surfaces can occur as pebble or cobble lag, surface crusts, evaporite polygons, dessication cracks and dune-cross-stratification. This study aims to better understand radar-response to a range of sediment availability-limited surfaces in dune environments using terrestrial spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquisitions. We primarily target playas and interdune-areas in western North America, southern Africa and the Middle East. As a means for multi-temporal comparison between satellite platform acquisitions, the SAR backscatter coefficient, σ₀, has been used as a measure of the radar return intensity (brightness) and the surface roughness. SAR systems measure the ratio between the power of the pulse transmitted and that of the echo received as projected into the slant-range geometry. Geometric and radiometric calibration of the backscatter values are necessary for inter-comparison of radar images acquired with different sensors, or even of images obtained by the same sensor if acquired in different modes and look geometries. In light of this, this investigation has considered and fused a number of SAR datasets from SRTM SIR-C/X-SAR, ERS-1/2, Envisat, and Radarsat as a means for spatial and temporal variation of σ₀. Preliminary statistical analysis of the backscatter coefficient shows decadal and seasonal trends in the variation of surface roughness over the temporal range of the data sets. Further, differences in the backscatter coefficient depend strongly on the geomorphic setting, such as between playas, interdune areas and dunes. Determining spatial and temporal variability in sediment availability-limited areas on Earth can provide insight into the availability-limited regions within Titan’s equatorial dune fields.