cartography Archives

Latitude differences between the 1979 planetodetic and the 2000 planetocentric Mars description, in minute -- astro-ph.IM

Planetary World Coordinate System in Astropy

by Keith CowingApril 14, 2025April 14, 2025

Different research communities are involved in planetary coordinate standardization. Geologists and Remote Sensing specialists work on extending Earth standards to Planets using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and coordinate descriptions endorsed […]

The new bathymetric map of the volcanic chain south-southeast of Rarotonga Note the data is shown here before processing, which will improve the quality further. -- Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water Planet Surveys: Discovering Underwater Volcanoes

by Keith CowingMarch 30, 2025March 30, 2025

The Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA), in collaboration with other partners such as the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), University of California Santa Barbara, and Kiva Marine, recently […]

This global map of seafloor features is based on ocean height data from the SWOT satellite. Purple denotes regions that are lower compared to higher features such as seamounts and abyssal hills, depicted in green. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean Planet Recon: Next-Generation Water Satellite Maps Seafloor From Space

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2025March 20, 2025

More accurate maps based on data from the SWOT mission can improve underwater navigation and result in greater knowledge of how heat and life move around the world’s ocean.

Bedmap3 reveals new insights into the topography of Antarctica. From Bedmap3 updated ice bed, surface and thickness gridded datasets for Antarctica by Pritchard, H., et al.

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Map Of The Landscape Beneath Antarctica’s Ice Unveiled

by Keith CowingMarch 14, 2025March 14, 2025

Antarctica’s ice sheet has been assembled by a team of international scientists led from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Distribution of fluvial and lacustrine features on Titan. Most of Titan’s valley networks, lakes, and seas are concentrated at polar latitudes, though valley networks are comparably more globally distributed (Miller et al. 2021). Alluvial fans are primarily found at Titan’s mid-latitudes (Birch et al. 2016). At both poles, Titan’s largest lakes, seas, and paleoseas concentrate on the eastern hemisphere, while most of the smaller lakes are on the opposite hemisphere (Birch et al. 2017). The largest cluster of small lakes are in Titan’s ‘Lake District’, a region elevated above the seas by 100’s of meters. Major regions and features are labeled, along with approximated locations of the Huygens lander and the Dragonfly landing site at Selk Crater. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Saturn, Status Report, Titan

Titan’s Fluvial and Lacustrine Landscapes

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2025February 5, 2025

In this chapter we begin with a review of Titan’s fluvial and lacustrine landscapes as observed with Cassini remote sensing data, and what the many discoveries have revealed about Titan’s […]

Overview maps illustrating Arctic Ocean bathymetry and source data for the compilation of IBCAO 5.0. (a) Bathymetry based on IBCAO 5.0. Two versions are available: one with under-ice topography of Greenland (shown), and another with the ice-sheet surface topography, both based on BedMachine Version 5 DMT180. The bold black line shows the Seabed 2030 Arctic region, for which a geographic DTM is produced and contributed to the global GEBCO DTM. The square region shown in brighter colours represents the more limited extent of the IBCAO DTM. White stars show the locations of detailed comparison between IBCAO 5.0 and 4.0 in Fig. 9. (b) Source data displayed based on the mapping method (MB = Multibeam; SB = Singlebeam). (c) Close-up of the East Siberian Sea depicting soundings from charts (in black) and digitised contours (in white). The nodes of the digitised contours, utilised in the gridding process, may be challenging to discern due to their sparse density. To enhance visibility, several contours are presented as polygons in white. (d) Close-up of North Greenland showing a part of the least mapped area of the Arctic Ocean. (e) Source data displayed as individual data sets using different colours. Note that the high resolution of the IBCAO 5.0 gridded products precludes displaying fine details in overview figures. For detailed information, readers are referred to the downloadable grids. -- PNAS via PubMed

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean World Cartography: The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 5.0

by Keith CowingJanuary 12, 2025January 11, 2025

Knowledge about seafloor depth, or bathymetry, is crucial for various marine activities, including scientific research, offshore industry, safety of navigation, and ocean exploration.

A Tetracorder map of the Moon showing water absorption areas (with an Earth-based image of the Moon in the center right to establish the boundaries of this map).

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Planetary Orbital Surveys Using A Tetracorder

by Keith CowingJanuary 6, 2025January 6, 2025

In Star Trek, the intrepid explorers use a handheld device called a tricorder to sense, record and compute environmental data. But scientists in the real world have one-upped our fictional friends […]

The rim of Jezero Crater on Mars -- NASA

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover’s Northern Rim Science Campaign – Proposed Route

by Keith CowingDecember 13, 2024December 13, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to capture this view as it was ascending to the rim of Jezero Crater on Dec. 5, 2024, the 1,349th Martian […]

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of a geological region called the Yardang Unit using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on Nov. 2, 2024, the 4,352nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Larger image

Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Curiosity Rover Views The Yardang Unit On Mars

by Keith CowingNovember 22, 2024November 22, 2024

This mosaic is made up of 18 images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human […]

This color image from NASA Voyager 2 was reconstructed by making a computer composite of three black and white images taken through red, green, and blue filters. Details on Triton surface unfold dramatically in this sequence of approach images. NASA ID: PIA00329 Larger image

Astrogeology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Neptune, Status Report, Triton, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Enhanced Voyager 2 Approach Image Sequence Of Icy Ocean World Triton

by Keith CowingNovember 16, 2024

Original Caption Released with Image: Triton Voyager 2 approach sequence with latitude-longitude grid superposed. The color image was reconstructed by making a computer composite of three black and white images […]