VIKING 1 ORBITER CLOUD OCCURRENCE FROM IMAGING DATA SET



Above is shown a latitude vs time (Ls) presentation of the detection of seven types of clouds within the martian atmosphere from images obtained with the Visual Imaging System onboard the Viking 1 orbiter. Haze type clouds are most prominent during the mission. There is also a detected cloud data set from Viking 2 orbiter imaging for Ls 107 MY 12 - Ls 116 MY 13.

The DATA contained within the Viking orbiter imaging PDS cloud archive provide the location (latitude, longitude), time (Ls and time-of-sol), cloud type, and other quantitative aspects of the detected cloud occurrence and image conditions under which the cloud was detected. The data themselves are presented in tabular ASCII form in the vo_clds.dat file within the data folder within the archive vomr_0001. The vo_clds.dat file includes both Viking 1 Orbiter and Viking 2 Orbiter cloud occurrences. The contents of and structure of this data file are described in the file vo_clds.lbl file which is also located within the DATA folder in the vomr_0001 archive. Within the DATA folder of the vomr_0001 archive you will also find a an ASCII data file (mr9_clds.dat) containing cloud occurrence derived from Mariner 9 orbiter imaging (Ls 293 MY 9 - Ls 98 MY 10); the structure of that file is the same as that of Viking cloud occurrence file.

For information about the Viking Orbiter Visual Imaging System (VIS) cloud data sets, click here
For information about the Viking Orbiter missions, click here
For information about the Viking Orbiter VIS instruments, click here and here