Radar and the search for subsurface water on the Earth and Mars

Résumé : Various lines of evidence suggest that Mars may possess an inventory of water equivalent to a global ocean 1-km deep, averaged over the planet?s surface. But only a few percent of this global inventory can be accounted for in such visible reservoirs as the Martian atmosphere and polar caps. The remainder is thought to reside in the subsurface, as both ground ice and groundwater. This talk reviews some of the current thinking about water on Mars and discusses the use of ground-penetrating radar to investigate its current subsurface distribution and state. Examples of radar?s ability to investigate the shallow and deep subsurface are discussed based on the performance of existing spacecraft instruments, currently in Mars orbit, and on the abilities of similar instruments in Mars analogue environments, such as the hyper-arid West Egyptian Desert. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Séminaires généraux de la spécialité M2 Télédétection ------------------------------------------------------------------------