Mars Global Surveyor’s Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Wide‐Angle Images (1999–2006): 1. Data Processing

Abstract

Abstract Earth‐based telescopes and Mars‐orbiting spacecraft have revealed Mars to be a dynamic body with periodic changes spanning hours to years, and other changes that present no discernible pattern. Understanding these surface and atmospheric variations requires observing and tracking them, and that requires global, consistent image data that spans several years. In support of that goal, the Mars Orbiter Camera Wide Angle “daily global map” images, in both red and blue, have undergone a modern processing with photometric corrections. They have been projected and blended into equirectangular and polar stereographic monochromatic and synthetic three‐color mosaics in intervals of 1 day and ΔLs = 2°, 5°, 10° (approximately 4 days, 10 days, and 2.5 weeks, respectively). The full data set presents three dimensions of Mars—location, time, and color—while ranges or values within each dimension can be combined in different ways, presenting a highly complex interplay for exploration. In this work, the methods to generate the data are presented along with an overview of the data set. In the companion paper (Robbins, 2023a, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JE007621), several new observations are made along with replication of known, previously described phenomena.

Keywords

• Mars
• Mars Orbiter Camera
• mosaic
• global data
• dust
• clouds