Vidhya Ganesh Rangarajan

The University of Western Ontario | UWO · Institute for Earth and Space Exploration

The present-day water cycle on Mars has implications for habitability and future human exploration. Water ice clouds and water vapour have been detected above the Tharsis volcanic province, suggesting the active exchange of water between regolith and atmosphere. Here we report observational evidence for extensive transient morning frost deposits on...

Mars is host to a variety of active surface processes that relate to changes in seasonal ice/frost, slope activity, wind and processes potentially relating to liquid water. Regular monitoring and change detection of these phenomena is crucial to not only provide us insights into present day Martian surface conditions, but also its past geologic and...

Water ice in the Martian mid‐latitudes has advanced and retreated in response to variations in the planet's orbit, obliquity, and climate. A 150 m‐diameter new impact crater near 35°N provides the lowest‐latitude impact exposure of subsurface ice on Mars. This is the largest known ice‐exposing crater and provides key constraints on Martian climate...

Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are narrow, dark streaks lengthening down Martian steep slopes during warm seasons, fading during the cold ones and regularly recurring every Martian year. Their origin is still debated. Although initially interpreted as possible flows of seeping water, either coming from a subsurface aquifer or through atmospheric proc...

Slope streaks are albedo features that form frequently on equatorial Martian slopes. Most slope streaks are dark relative to surrounding terrains, a minor fraction is bright, and there are rare transitioning streaks that exhibit a contrast reversal partway downslope. Their formation mechanisms and physical surface properties are not well understood...

Thermal inertia has been found to play a significant role in planetary remote sensing applications, forming the basis of potentially all major lithological discriminations of the planetary surface. It has always been visualised to serve as a distinctive thermal property of the surface with its values remaining fairly constant at least for a short t...

Thermal inertia (TI) of a planetary surface exhibits its ability for heat storage and re-radiation during day and night time respectively. Consequently, their magnitudes are closely defined by the physical and thermal properties of the surface strata and the near surface thermal environment. This has potentially paved the way for its utility as an...

The study made use of aerosol optical depth (AOD) data obtained from Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on board Terra satellite at 10km resolution and meteorological parameters predicted using Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model to estimate countrywide PM2.5 concentration. PM2.5 concentration and meteorological data...

The planned water structures on the Brahmaputra River have been a great source of concern for India. One such concern is the possible diversion of part of the Tibetan tributary of the river from one such operational dam, Zangmu which could cause a possible reduction of discharge to Brahmaputra. The current study focuses on estimation of discharge a...

The surface energy budget (SEB) is a comprehensive strategy to understand the thermal behaviour of a planetary surface. Knowledge of the surface radiative transfer helps us understand near surface thermal environments. There are various methods and numerical models to partially compute energy budgets. The best methods for efficient calculation of e...

Jezero, an impact crater located in NE Syrtis is home to a large diversity of alteration minerals and fluvial features. The current study aims to map the abundance of rock-bearing mafic minerals in the region and analyze them with the estimated surface thermal inertia and thereby generate a hydrated mineral potential map. It is seen that the crater...

Remote sensing techniques have proved to be highly efficient in the exploration of Mars. Availability of several sensors operating across the electromagnetic spectrum on-board orbiters, landers and rovers has helped better understand the surface and atmospheric conditions on the Red planet. This article summarises the application potential of the s...

Syrtis Major Planum is a major volcanic construct on Mars ridden with a large number of fluvial channels mostly draining into the adjacent Isidis basin. These channels have been attributed to have formed by lava flows from the calderas of the construct onto the basin. However, with availability of high spatial and spectral resolution remote sensing...

Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization technique (CLAHE) is a widely used form of contrast enhancement, used predominantly in enhancing medical imagery like X-rays and to enhance features in ordinary photographs. This paper aimed to understand the effectiveness of using this technique in multispectral satellite imagery and to study its ef...

Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization technique (CLAHE) is a widely used form of contrast enhancement, used predominantly in enhancing medical imagery like X-rays and to enhance features in ordinary photographs. This work is aimed to understand the effectiveness of using this technique in multispectral satellite imagery and to study its...