[X] My Assistant

[Juramike]

T42 Mission description now up.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/prod...description.pdf

Imaging highlights:

• Last of the S hemisphere flyover sequence.
• Long VIMS stretch in "noodle mode" going into northern territory. ("noodle mode" gives a longer track, but is less accessible for us sitting in the cheap seats.)
• A VIMS "sit and stare" section
• ISS imaging of the area in N Belet and polar regions. (Hopefully a good look at the Dancing Monkey feature)

-Mike

[Juramike]

Curiosity got the better of me....

So where are these clouds anyway? And with all that RADAR coverage up north, can we figure what kind of terrain is beneath them?



Here is a graphic showing the north polar RADAR swaths overlaid on a grid that shows the RADAR swath names and latitude and longitude. (At the very top right is just barely seen the T19 Swath).



Similar clouds were observed in the same location in PIA08365 as in images taken during T42. PIA08364 shows a ISS and RADAR images with an outline of the big north polar lake. (According to the catalog page, the ISS image was taken on February 25, 2007). That might indicate a long-lived cloud at this location or this may just be great place to make clouds.



Here is a graphic with the north polar RADAR swaths overlaid on PIA08366. The T30 RADAR Swath should have imaged some of the terrain that underlies the clouds.



Here is a graphic with the T30 RADAR Swath and the outline of the cloud. The dark section of lake was used to make the correct line-up.




Here is a graphic of the T30 RADAR swath showing the location of the clouds. Also a zoom region.

The terrain type is pretty non-descript, many blobby features, possibly some type of dried lakebed type terrain or it could be canyon or it could be plains as well. Who knows? There are some channel-like features barely discernable which seem to flow from left to right across the zoomed image. If there was any type of topographic rise parallel to the clouds, the channel-like features would need to cut through them. At the lower left in the zoomed image (zoomed further in the inset) there are bright streaks that may be aeolian deposits.

There are no obvious tectonic ridges in this area.

-Mike