GRIDVIEW IMAGE MANIPULATION USING LOLA DATA (Invited Presentation)

GRIDVIEW is an IDL compatible software application designed to aid researchers in their efforts to analyze, measure, and visualize gridded data products such as planetary topography. It is free, easy to use, and is also available for teachers and students to conduct research in the classroom, or by the general public who may be interested in such innovative technology.

IDL, short for Interactive Data Language, is a programming language used for data analysis. It is popular in particular areas of science, such as in astronomy imaging. The instrument data is collected in a way very similar to a spreadsheet, with values occurring in a tabular manner. These tabular data are then converted into images based on the values assigned to intensities. For example, we use GRIDVIEW for manipulating images of the topography of the Moon and Mars. The topographical data for Moon that GRIDVIEW works is topographical data collected in values determined by the timing between the pulse and return bounce of laser beams sent to the lunar surface from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter instrument called LOLA (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Altimeter) and returned to the spacecraft.

So, simply stated, the IDL program takes data values and, in conjunction with GRIDVIEW, converts the data into a visual image based on the data. Once an image is created with the IDL software, GRIDVIEW allows you to manipulate parameters to zoom in, zoom out, crop, and change layers in the images created. There are many other options for manipulating the images in GRIDVIEW to enhance research initiatives in geomorphology of the Moon and Mars.

The free IDL data in association with GRIDVIEW is currently available for Moon and Mars only.