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Karl Hibbitts
Collaborating Scientist Planetary Sciences Institute 225 S. Lake Ave, Suite 300 Pasadena, Ca 91011 Office: see address above Phone : (626) 432-5422 Email : hibbitts@rad.ess.washington.edu |
| I came to the lab in November, 2001 after having received by Ph.D. at the Univ. of Hawaii in Geology & Geophysics for studying and mapping the CO2 and SO2 over the surfaces of Ganymede and Callisto (Jupiter’s outer two, and largest, satellites) using spacecraft-based imaging spectroscopy. I have a B.Sc. cum laude in Geology from the Univ. of New Mexico and a BA in Physics from Cornell Univ. I am currently interested in several topics. My planetary desires involve understanding the formation and compositional/physical evolutions of the large solidly surfaced objects in our Solar System, such as Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and the asteroids, to name a few examples. I want to understand why they are as they are and what one should expect to find when exploring these surfaces directly. I also attempt to explain observational features through laboratory simulations. I am also interested in using remote sensing to study our Earth. Here, I use thermal infrared spectroscopy to distinguish different desert landforms by the existence of non-linear spectral effects. Compositional diversity is only assumed to exist laterally along the surface. However, compositional diversity with penetration depth is common for the surface of the Earth – dust covered objects, wet (water-covered) objects, and icy objects are just a few examples. In this research, I focus on the effect that compositionally distinct coatings have on the thermal infrared reflectance (emission) of the underlying rock. It is a non-linear effect that varies with the thickness of the coating. Using ‘rock varnishes’ as a case study, we attempt to quantify these effects with theoretical non-linear models. Our objective is to characterize the variations in the trafficability of a surface by understanding its thermal infrared properties. |
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Links Project web sites: Planetary Sciences Institute biography web site : http://www.psi.edu/staff/hibbitts2.html |