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Title: A New Crater Near InSight: Implications for Seismic Impact Detectability on Mars

Abstract

A new 1.5 m diameter impact crater was discovered on Mars only ~40 km from the InSight lander. Context camera images constrained its formation between 21 February and 6 April 2019; follow-up High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images resolved the crater. During this time period, three seismic events were identified in InSight data. In this paper, we derive expected seismic signal characteristics and use them to evaluate each of the seismic events. However, none of them can definitively be associated with this source. Atmospheric perturbations are generally expected to be generated during impacts; however, in this case, no signal could be identified as related to the known impact. Using scaling relationships based on the terrestrial and lunar analogs and numerical modeling, we predict the amplitude, peak frequency, and duration of the seismic signal that would have emanated from this impact. The predicted amplitude falls near the lowest levels of the measured seismometer noise for the predicted frequency. Hence, it is not surprising this impact event was not positively identified in the seismic data. Finding this crater was a lucky event as its formation this close to InSight has a probability of only ~0.2, and the odds of capturing it inmore » before and after images are extremely low. We revisit impact-seismic discriminators in light of real experience with a seismometer on the Martian surface. Using measured noise of the instrument, we revise our previous prediction of seismic impact detections downward, from ~a few to tens, to just ~2 per Earth year, still with an order of magnitude uncertainty.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9];  [7]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [10];  [11];  [2];  [5]; ORCiD logo [3] more »;  [5];  [12];  [13];  [14]; ORCiD logo [7];  [5]; ORCiD logo [15];  [14];  [13]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [16]; ORCiD logo [17];  [18];  [8]; ORCiD logo [19] « less
  1. Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
  2. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Orsay (France); Univ. of Paris (France)
  3. Bristol Univ. (United Kingdom)
  4. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
  5. Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich (Switzerland)
  6. Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France); Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris (France)
  7. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  8. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA (United States)
  9. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  10. Univ. Côte d'Azur, Valbonne (France)
  11. Observatoire de Paris (France)
  12. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Reading (United Kingdom)
  13. Curtin Univ., Perth, WA (Australia)
  14. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  15. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  16. Inst. Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace SUPAERO, Toulouse (France)
  17. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  18. Paul Sabatier Univ., Toulouse (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Toulouse (France)
  19. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); UK Space Agency; French Space Agency; Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); French Agence Nationale de la Recherche; Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation; ETH Zurich; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (United Kingdom); Australian Research Council
OSTI Identifier:
1688762
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-20-20650
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9097
Grant/Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001; 80NM0018F0612; ST/R002096/1; ANR-14-CE36-0012-02; ANR-19-CE31-0008-08; 157133; ETH-06 17-02; ST/S000615/1; ST/S001514/1; DP180100661; DE180100584
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9097
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; impact cratering; seismology; Mars; crater; InSight

Citation Formats

Daubar, Ingrid J., Lognonné, Philippe, Teanby, Nicholas A., Collins, Gareth S., Clinton, John, Stähler, Simon, Spiga, Aymeric, Karakostas, Foivos, Ceylan, Savas, Malin, M., McEwen, Alfred S., Maguire, Ross, Charalambous, Constantinos, Onodera, Keisuke, Lucas, Antoine, Rolland, Lucie, Vaubaillon, Jeremie, Kawamura, Taichi, Böse, Maren, Horleston, Anna, van Driel, Martin, Stevanović, J., Miljković, K., Fernando, B., Huang, Q., Giardini, D., Larmat, Carene S., Leng, K., Rajšić, A., Schmerr, N., Wójcicka, N., Pike, T., Wookey, J., Rodriguez, S., Garcia, R., Banks, M. E., Margerin, L., Posiolova, L., and Banerdt, B. A New Crater Near InSight: Implications for Seismic Impact Detectability on Mars. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1029/2020je006382.
Daubar, Ingrid J., Lognonné, Philippe, Teanby, Nicholas A., Collins, Gareth S., Clinton, John, Stähler, Simon, Spiga, Aymeric, Karakostas, Foivos, Ceylan, Savas, Malin, M., McEwen, Alfred S., Maguire, Ross, Charalambous, Constantinos, Onodera, Keisuke, Lucas, Antoine, Rolland, Lucie, Vaubaillon, Jeremie, Kawamura, Taichi, Böse, Maren, Horleston, Anna, van Driel, Martin, Stevanović, J., Miljković, K., Fernando, B., Huang, Q., Giardini, D., Larmat, Carene S., Leng, K., Rajšić, A., Schmerr, N., Wójcicka, N., Pike, T., Wookey, J., Rodriguez, S., Garcia, R., Banks, M. E., Margerin, L., Posiolova, L., & Banerdt, B. A New Crater Near InSight: Implications for Seismic Impact Detectability on Mars. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020je006382
Daubar, Ingrid J., Lognonné, Philippe, Teanby, Nicholas A., Collins, Gareth S., Clinton, John, Stähler, Simon, Spiga, Aymeric, Karakostas, Foivos, Ceylan, Savas, Malin, M., McEwen, Alfred S., Maguire, Ross, Charalambous, Constantinos, Onodera, Keisuke, Lucas, Antoine, Rolland, Lucie, Vaubaillon, Jeremie, Kawamura, Taichi, Böse, Maren, Horleston, Anna, van Driel, Martin, Stevanović, J., Miljković, K., Fernando, B., Huang, Q., Giardini, D., Larmat, Carene S., Leng, K., Rajšić, A., Schmerr, N., Wójcicka, N., Pike, T., Wookey, J., Rodriguez, S., Garcia, R., Banks, M. E., Margerin, L., Posiolova, L., and Banerdt, B. 2020. "A New Crater Near InSight: Implications for Seismic Impact Detectability on Mars". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020je006382. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1688762.
@article{osti_1688762,
title = {A New Crater Near InSight: Implications for Seismic Impact Detectability on Mars},
author = {Daubar, Ingrid J. and Lognonné, Philippe and Teanby, Nicholas A. and Collins, Gareth S. and Clinton, John and Stähler, Simon and Spiga, Aymeric and Karakostas, Foivos and Ceylan, Savas and Malin, M. and McEwen, Alfred S. and Maguire, Ross and Charalambous, Constantinos and Onodera, Keisuke and Lucas, Antoine and Rolland, Lucie and Vaubaillon, Jeremie and Kawamura, Taichi and Böse, Maren and Horleston, Anna and van Driel, Martin and Stevanović, J. and Miljković, K. and Fernando, B. and Huang, Q. and Giardini, D. and Larmat, Carene S. and Leng, K. and Rajšić, A. and Schmerr, N. and Wójcicka, N. and Pike, T. and Wookey, J. and Rodriguez, S. and Garcia, R. and Banks, M. E. and Margerin, L. and Posiolova, L. and Banerdt, B.},
abstractNote = {A new 1.5 m diameter impact crater was discovered on Mars only ~40 km from the InSight lander. Context camera images constrained its formation between 21 February and 6 April 2019; follow-up High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images resolved the crater. During this time period, three seismic events were identified in InSight data. In this paper, we derive expected seismic signal characteristics and use them to evaluate each of the seismic events. However, none of them can definitively be associated with this source. Atmospheric perturbations are generally expected to be generated during impacts; however, in this case, no signal could be identified as related to the known impact. Using scaling relationships based on the terrestrial and lunar analogs and numerical modeling, we predict the amplitude, peak frequency, and duration of the seismic signal that would have emanated from this impact. The predicted amplitude falls near the lowest levels of the measured seismometer noise for the predicted frequency. Hence, it is not surprising this impact event was not positively identified in the seismic data. Finding this crater was a lucky event as its formation this close to InSight has a probability of only ~0.2, and the odds of capturing it in before and after images are extremely low. We revisit impact-seismic discriminators in light of real experience with a seismometer on the Martian surface. Using measured noise of the instrument, we revise our previous prediction of seismic impact detections downward, from ~a few to tens, to just ~2 per Earth year, still with an order of magnitude uncertainty.},
doi = {10.1029/2020je006382},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1688762}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets},
issn = {2169-9097},
number = 8,
volume = 125,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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Bolide Airbursts as a Seismic Source for the 2018 Mars InSight Mission
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Geology of the InSight landing site on Mars
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Recently Formed Crater Clusters on Mars
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Atmospheric Science with InSight
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The atmosphere of Mars as observed by InSight
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Mars Seismic Catalogue, InSight Mission; V1 2/1/2020
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Finite-Difference Modeling of Acoustic and Gravity Wave Propagation in Mars Atmosphere: Application to Infrasounds Emitted by Meteor Impacts
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Impact-Seismic Investigations of the InSight Mission
journal, December 2018


A crater and its ejecta: An interpretation of Deep Impact
journal, March 2007


Nonuniform cratering of the terrestrial planets
journal, September 2008


Geodesy constraints on the interior structure and composition of Mars
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Moon meteoritic seismic hum: Steady state prediction
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Martian Infrasound: Numerical Modeling and Analysis of InSight's Data
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Spectral-element simulations of global seismic wave propagation-I. Validation
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Modeling of atmospheric-coupled Rayleigh waves on planets with atmosphere: From Earth observation to Mars and Venus perspectives
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An investigation of infrasound propagation over mountain ranges
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