New Topographic and Color-Coded Contour Maps of Mars

Very timely new map, below!

Stock #: 115419
Price: $14.00 for the maps plus $5.00 handling

The newest map of Mars, Geologic Investigations Series I-2782, is a
two-sheet set containing a topographic version of Mars, and a color-coded
contour map of the planet. The map was prepared on behalf of the Planetary
Geology and Geophysics Program, Solar System Exploration Division, Office
of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It
is based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an
instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. The image used
for the base of this map represents more than 600 million measurements
gathered between 1999 and 2001, adjusted for consistency between 2001 and
2003, and converted to planetary radii.

To create the topographic base image, the original DEM produced by the MOLA
team in Simple Cylindrical projection was projected into the Mercator and
Polar Stereographic pieces. A shaded relief was generated from each DEM.
Illumination is from the west, which follows a long-standing USGS tradition
for planetary maps. This allows for continuity in the shading between maps
and quadrangles, and most closely resembles lighting conditions found on
imagery. The DEM values were then mapped to a smooth global color look-up
table. These two files were merged and scaled to 1:25 million for the
Mercator portion and 1:15,196,708 for the two Polar Stereographic portions,
with a resolution of 300 dots per inch. The projections have a common scale
of 1:13,923,113 at +56 degrees latitude.

The map is available from any USGS Earth Science Information Center (ESIC).
To locate the nearest ESIC, call 1-888-ASK-USGS, or visit:
http://www.usgs.gov . Orders may be placed through the USGS Store at:
http://store.usgs.gov

Author:  

Dr.  Joseph J. Kerski

Geographer
Box 25046 - MS 507 

Denver, CO  80225-0046 USA

jjkerski@usgs.gov 

Tel  303 202 4315