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W12 THE PLANETS HOMEWORK MODULE 5 PROF. MILITZER, SUMMER 2015
DUE ON JULY 26, 2015 BY 11 PM
This homework is done with the program GoogleEarth version 7 or
later. You can either download it on your own computer or use a
computer on campus and install it there. For installation
instructions and computer locations on campus, please read the
appendix at the end of the assignment. Type your answers in the
provided answer sheet and submit it to the bcourse website. Make
sure to press Submit after uploading your file. You should receive
a confirmation email. We accept the following formats: DOC, DOCX,
PDF, ODT. Before we start: After starting GoogleEarth, please
switch to Mars (by going to View/Explore) and follow the following
steps to set up: (1) Enable the Scale legend (View/Scale Legend).
The scale bar allows you to zoom in and out. You may also find it
useful to enable Grid (View/Grid) when traveling to and navigating
between locations.
(2) Make sure that metric units and degrees/minutes/seconds
notation are used by going to the Tools/Options menu and selecting
the appropriate options. In this assignment, we will ask you to
navigate to specific latitude/longitude coordinates in degrees,
minutes, seconds notation. (3) Know your options when navigating to
coordinates: (a) Simply use the hand tool or your mouse to manually
move the map. It is important to note that the lat/long coordinates
of your cursor are displayed at the bottom of the screen. (b) Input
the coordinates in the Fly to space (within Search) on the left
side of the screen. The coordinates need to be written with a space
in between the degrees, minutes and seconds, and a comma between
the latitude and longitude with the latitude appearing first in the
list. Make sure to specify N,S,E, or W. Entering 1 56 37 S, 5 31 09
W without quotes should land you near the rover Opportunity. (c) To
remember a location of interest, you may insert a placemark by
going to Add/Placemark and inputting the coordinates within the
dialogue box.
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Assignment Questions (Use the answer sheet): (1) Navigate to
1956'10"N and 2453'05"E (to input in Fly to/Search, try: 18 26 4.11
N, 179 48 48.79 E, zoom in to 20km resolution. The coordinates of
your cursor are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Describe
what geological feature you see and estimate its horizontal and
vertical dimensions. Compare and contrast what you see to similar
features on the moon and explain what it tells us about the earlier
history of Mars. You may want to add a placemark at this location.
Do this by clicking the yellow thumbtack icon at the top. (2) Now
enable the CTX image browser (listed under Spacecraft Imagery in
Layers). Areas imaged by the Context Camera (CTX) should now be
outlined with orange rectangles. Zoom out until the scale bar reads
100km and find the green hiker icon marking Marte Vallis, which is
southeast of your current location. Click on the green hiker icon
and click again to load a high resolution image and description of
Marte Vallis.
Now fly to 11 0'42.16"N, and 17846'59.48"W , zoom in to 3500
meter resolution. The marker should lie directly between two
distinct features. Notice that the features are structurally
altered. Notice the black streaks on the slopes of the more
northwestern feature. They are called slope streaks. Look them up
and answer the following questions. What process shaped these
features? Indicate the relative time of alteration and formation of
these features and your reasoning for this order.
(3) Fly to 616'59"S, and 6909'18"W and zoom in to a scale of
1km. You should be centered on a prominent cliff. (If GoogeEarth
does not automatically load the grey HiRISE image, please load it
manually.) What are the features of this cliff? How do you think
these features formed? Compare it with the Nanga Parbat's Rupal
Face and Kermadec Trench (both on Earth). In what way are these
features same/different? (4a) Navigate to 445035N, 1114525W and
zoom in to 20km. Describe the parallel ridges that you see and
explain how they may have formed. Can you name a similar feature on
Earth? (4b)Now zoom out to about 200 km resolution, keeping your
focus on the feature. Do you see any relation to another adjacent
named landform? How might these two features be related? What is
the relative time of formation of these features? (5) Fly to
2655'28.84"S and 3427'35.03"W and zoom in to 4 or 8 km. The marker
will be in the center of a half-circle feature. Describe what you
see and how it may have formed. Does this indicate rapid or gentle
flow? Explain why.
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(6) In the layers window, under the Mars Gallery drop down menu
enable the Rovers and Landers option. Double click the MSL
Curiosity Rover (USA) and allow the window to pan to the Curiosity
lander site. Explore the area, including the high-resolution
panoramic mosaic. Use your existent knowledge and do some extra
research: why is this location chosen for landing? What are the
advantages of landers over satellites anyways? (7a) Next compare
two larger regions of the planet. First fly to 390244S and 193211E
and zoom in to 100 km. Estimate the number of craters in the field
of view, measure the width of the largest crater, and comment on
the size distribution of the population of craters. (7b) Then fly
to 290226 N and 1063355 E view once again at 100 km resolution and
answer the same questions for this region. In which location is the
exposed surface older? Explain briefly. The next exercises are a
bit more work. For these you will generate topographic
cross-sections of features on Earth and Mars. These cross-sections
will allow us to compare the scale of similar features on the two
planets. For this we will make use of the Path tool in GoogleEarth.
Begin by comparing the cross-sections of two large canyons: Vallis
Marineris on Mars and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon on Earth. You
should be able to find both by typing the name into the search bar
while viewing the corresponding planet. To do this:
Select the path tool on the GoogleEarth interface
Select a specific longitude (indicate your chosen value in your
submission) and draw
from North to South a path, placing points at evenly spaced
intervals by left-clicking the mouse. I recommend zooming in to
50km resolution, and walking across the valley.
Name your Path and save it using the GoogleEarth New Path
dialogue box.
Find your path in the Places list, right click it and select
Show Elevation profile. A
graph similar to the one below should appear (the example is of
a different feature).
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Include a picture of the each profile in your submitted
homework. The easiest
way to do this is to take a screen-shot (see instructions at the
end), and crop the picture around the plot. Then insert the plot
into the homework answer sheet.
For Vallis Marineris, I recommend zooming in to 50km resolution,
then walk across the valley with your mouse while recording the
elevation in latitude steps of approximately 20 arc minutes. A good
place to take an intersect of Yarlung Tsangpo canyon is north of
the Tsangpo Gorge tag (on Earth). (8) Using the topographic
profiles of each canyon, determine the depth of the canyon (the
difference between the highest and lowest point) and the distance
between the North and South rim, also briefly describe and compare
the shape of the two profiles. (9) Identify the tallest of the four
large volcanoes on Mars using the colorized terrain map under the
Global Maps layer is helpful for this task:
As before, generate an elevation profile along the north-south
cross section cuts across the center of its crater. Using the 30
arc minute resolution. Next switch back to GoogleEarth back to
Earth and create a north-south profile for Mount Everest. Finally
visit the Big Island of Hawaii. Generate an elevation profile of a
north-south cross section in 5 arc minute intervals starting from
the ocean floor and crossing the Big Islands highest peak (Mauna
Kea). Please provide images of your three topographic profiles:
Using these profiles for each find the height (the difference in
altitude between the peak and nearest low-point) of the mountain.
Using this definition, what is the tallest mountain on each planet?
(10) Back on Mars, search for Valles Marineris in the search bar.
Using the colorized terrain map, see how far you can trace this
water-eroded valley. Using the Path tool, draw a path that water
would have taken from its source, as far as you continue to see
erosion
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features. Dont worry about being too precise; the profile will
have noise from other features. Then do the same thing for the Nile
River on the Earth.
What direction did the water flow through Valles Marineris? Why?
Compare the length which water flowed through Valles Marineris to
the length of the Nile River. Then compare the elevation change
between the source and outflow of both. What might you conclude
about the nature of the water flow through Valles Marineris? (Hint:
Another source of evidence are the tear-shaped islands present in
Valles Marineris but do not exist on Earth.)
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Comments on cutting and pasting images a) On a Mac, you can take
screen shot by pressing the Shift, the Command, and number 4 key at
the same time. The operating system then lets us select the screen
range of your choice and delivers it as Screenshot.png on your
desktop. Then insert the image in your homework file. b) On a PC,
you first need to press the PrintScreen button (somewhere on the
upper right hiding on your keyboard) which copies your whole screen
into the Clipboard. Then you can paste it with Control-v into
various graphics applications. MS Paint comes with the PC operating
system but many other graphics programs work as well. From these
programs you would then save it as JPG or PNG file. (You could also
try pasting directly into MS Word. The file size may also get huge,
however. Try to keep your images under two megabytes!)
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You have three opt ions to gain access to GoogleEarth 6 or later
needed for this HW. Option 1: Installing it on your own computer
(much preferred) Please download it from:
http://earth.google.com/
Additional comments can be found here:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-earth-goes-to-mars.html
Option 2: Find a fellow student in class and use his or her
computer Option 3: Use one with the campus computer labs Please
follow the instruction by on of the system administrators. It only
works on Macs: However I did find time to look into the GoogleEarth
installation and found that it installs with no hassle on our
general access iMacs. This will actually be an easier solution for
your students, as our general access facilities are open later and
on weekends. The two facilities that your students can install
GoogleEarth are: 2180 Valley Life Sciences M-F 9AM-10PM Sat CLOSED
Sun CLOSED 1st Floor Moffit M-TH 9AM-9PM Fri-Sat 9AM-5PM Sun
1PM-9PM This information can also be found here:
http://facility.berkeley.edu/labs/hours.html All students need to
log on to our systems is a working Calnet ID. Again, the install
will only work on our iMacs, not on PCs, but the installation is
very simple. The students can download the program with a quick
google search, then continue to open and execute the installer. If
your students are uncomfortable with the process they can ask one
of our consultants to assist them, the consultants can be found at
the front of the facility. If you have any questions about the
process or our facilities please do not hesitate to ask.