Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Ali Bramson’s Research Lab
Studying the surfaces of planets and ice in our Solar System using spacecraft
Research
SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS AND RADAR REMOTE SENSING
Radar characterization of a possible ice sheet the size of California and Texas combined (and as thick as a 13-story building) [Bramson et al. 2015]
New, large impact crater on Mars that excavated buried ice [Dundas et al. 2022]
Relationships between outlier ice deposits and the polar caps of Mars [McGlasson et al. 2023]
Radar response of buried lava flows ("cryptomaria") on the Moon [Bramson et al. 2022]
Radar detections (or lack thereof) of mid-latitude ice-rich deposits in and around Hellas Planitia, in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars [Cook et al. 2020]
Current state of knowledge of modern geomorphological activity on Mars [Diniega et al. 2021]
Arecibo radar-based model of the shape and surface properties of Itokawa (collaboration with Mike Nolan, Ellen Howell, Patrick Taylor, and Chris Magri)
Modeling of ice stability in the mid-latitudes of Mars [Bramson et al. 2017]
A phenomenological model for spiral trough migration which reproduces observations [Bramson et al. 2019]
Temperature-dependent modification of possible cryovolcanic features on Ceres -- viscous flow rates are slow enough at the location of Ahuna Mons that it would remain identifiable as a cryovolcanic feature today, given the expected young age of the dome [Sori et al. 2017a] and can be used to constrain the cryovolcanic rates on Ceres throughout time [Sori et al. 2018]
Carbon dioxide ice transport and stability on the Uranian moons -- prediction that the bright spot observed by Voyager 2 inside the crater Wunda is a deposit of CO2 ice [Sori et al. 2017b]
Origin of geologically recent flow units in Hrad Vallis, Mars and evidence that pāhoehoe‐like lava flows could have interacted with ground ice in the region to generate meltwater and steam [Hamilton et al. 2018]
iSALE modeling of terraced craters in Arcadia Planitia, Mars to constrain possible ice layer properties [Martellato et al. 2020]
An endogenic source for volatiles and 'reddish' features on Pluto's moon Charon and KBOs [Menten et al. 2022]
ANALOG STUDIES
Geophysical survey (including GPR, seismic profiles, and gravity data) of the Kentland impact crater in northwest Indiana (collaboration with Doug Schmitt, Peter James, and others)
Modeling and laboratory experiments of ice sintering processes in non-terrestrial environments (project led by Jamie Molaro)
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and ice-coring of the Langjökull Glacier in Iceland (project led by Lynn Carter and colleagues)
Mapping lava flow margins with differential GPS at Holuhraun, Iceland (led by Christopher Hamilton) [EOS Report]
Fractal dimension of lava flow margins at Craters of the Moon (project led by Ethan Schaefer, with field campaign run by NASA's FINESSE program) [Schaefer et al. 2021]
SPACECRAFT MISSION DEVELOPMENT
Assistant Co-Chair of the Measurement Definition Team for International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM), a concept being considered in a partnership between NASA, the Italian Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [FINAL REPORT; About I-MIM: NASA Press Release]
Co-I for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mini-RF instrument team, Extended Science Mission 5
Co-I on COMPASS (Climate Orbiter for Mars Polar Atmospheric and Subsurface Science), a Discovery-class mission concept [Byrne et al. 2020 abstract]
Team member on MORIE (Mars Orbiter for Resources, Ice, and Environments), a NASA funded Planetary Mission Concept Study for the 2023 decadal survey [Calvin et al. 2021; NASA MEPAG presentation]
Project Manager for our NASA JPL Planetary Science Summer School team in which we developed a mission concept for a Uranian orbiter featuring a low-cost instrument suite [Elder et al. 2018]
