Updating the global inventory of dune fields on Mars and identification of many small dune fields

Abstract

The Mars Global Digital Dune Database (MGD3) archives the location of large dark dunes on Mars, including several morphological, mineralogical, and thermophysical characteristics; it has been widely used by the Mars scientific community as a resource for aeolian studies (Hayward, R. K., Mullins, K. F., Fenton, L. K., Hare, T. M., Titus, T. N., Bourke, M. C., Colaprete, A., and Christensen, P. R. (2007a), Mars Global Digital Dune Database: MC2 - MC29: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1158, doi:https://doi.org/10.3133/20071158). This work presents the results of a new global dune field survey using high resolution orbital images of Mars that have been acquired in the years since the MGD3 was first compiled. More than 2000 new dune fields have been identified and mapped, more than doubling the previous number known. The new dune fields are mostly small (<~5 km2), collectively spanning ~52,000 km2. The total areal coverage of dune fields on Mars is now estimated to be 1.042 × 106 km2 (or 0.577 × 106 km2 when weighted for areal dune density). Many of the new dune fields are located in regions previously considered largely devoid of dune fields, such as the northern lowlands, as well as Hellas and Argyre Planitiae. Intended to supplement and update the original MGD3, this survey highlights the need for inventories and databases capable of handling dynamic data in the rapidly changing planetary exploration environment.