Mars DEMs

High-resolution Digital Elevation Models for Mars

Digital elevation models (DEMs) provide critical information about the three-dimensional geometry of surface outcrops on other planets and can help test different hypotheses. Using open-source software the Geomorphology and Aeolian Landscape Evolution lab creates DEMs from publicly archived high-resolution stereo images of Mars. The group has made over 1300 DEMs from HiRISE images at a point spacing of 1 meter-per-pixel, and even more DEMs from CTX images at a point spacing of ~6 meters-per-pixel. The lab generates these DEMs on a series of unix-based machines and the process has been automated for efficiency.

Access to UCLA-created Mars DEMs will be available through the NASA PDS. To see if a DEM is available in your area of interest, access the full DEM list and shapefile of HiRISE DEM and CTX DEM coverage at https://github.com/GALE-Lab/Mars_DEMs

Digital elevation models created by the GALE research group from high resolution stereo imaging of Mars. A) A HiRISE image (~25 cm/px) and overlain color DEM (1 m/px) showing eroded terrain in Arabia Terra. Images ESP_016394_2045/ESP_047303_2045. B/C) A pedestal crater in (A) with a much higher interior than the surrounding plains. This elevation difference is clear with the color DEM, but not with the image alone. D) Layers on the sedimentary mound in Henry crater (see Day and Catling, 2019). PSP_007070_1915/PSP_006569_1915. E) Indurated dunes in Apollinaris
Sulci. PSP_009609_1675/PSP_010453_1675.

Requesting new DEMs

New DEMs are being made all the time in the GALE lab, and we will happily take requests for new products. Depending on the size of the images and the requested resolution, DEMs typically take 1-2 days to generate (including some quality control by our researchers). Researchers interested in requesting new DEMs or accessing existing ones should contact the lab at daym@epss.ucla.edu.

A perspective view and elevation profile from a DEM made over Honeycomb Terrain in Hellas Basin Mars. This CTX DEM exaggerates the troughs and ridges from regional folding.

Full DEM list

A list of all DEMs already made by the group is available in the dem_index.csv file archived on the group’s GitHub page at https://github.com/GALE-Lab/Mars_DEMs

To request a DEM from this list or to request a specific image pair to process, please email daym@epss.ucla.edu

Global coverage of available DEMs overlain on MOLA colorized elevation