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Dr. Jennifer A. Grier
Scientific Research Experience
Joint position working with both organizations to study lunar, Martian, Mercurian and Venusian cratering. At PSI – Initiating new programs: to test the hypothesis of very young volcanic terrains on Mars by detailed counting of the geologic units on and near the Tharsis volcanoes from MGS/MOC images; and to investigate the breakup of ejecta from craters on rocky surfaces by studying secondaries, crater clusters and crater rays on all terrestrial planets, starting with Mars as a case study. Responsible for management of Mars research group in absence of supervisor. At LPL – Continuing studies of the maturity of lunar crater ejecta and new crater counting work to be initiated to constrain possible changes in the recent impactor flux in the inner solar system.
Collected, digitized and reduced lunar data from the Clementine spacecraft. Examined bright rayed and haloed craters for differences in morphology, size/frequency distribution and optical maturity of crater ejecta. Used this data to constrain the chronology of lunar craters and the flux of recent impactors into Earth/Moon space. Conducted surveys of Apollo data versus Clementine data in the Serenitatis basin to determine possible changes in the extreme recent flux of asteroids and comets. Participated in the "New Views of the Moon" initiative to correlate remote sensing and ground-truth sample data from the Moon.
Conducted step-wise heating gas extraction procedures on individual clast and melt samples from the Cat Mountain, Orvinio and Walters meteorites as well as samples from the Gardnos impact structure in Norway to determine 40Ar/39Ar ages. Participated in electron microprobe and petroscopic microscope analyses of lunar meteorites MAC88105 and QUE93069. Operated furnace, laser system, mass spectrometer, vacuum extraction line, as well as prepared irradiated samples, reduced and analyzed noble gas data for these meteorites and ALH84001. Assisted with target identification and extraction of microcores (less than 350 microns in size) for meteorites. Designed procedures and tools for handling, preparing, processing and irradiating these cores.
Participated in and directed the production of theoretical computer models of saltation and particulate motion on the surface of Titan. Considered the applicability of these models in terms of solid surface, fluvial and atmospheric properties, types and compositions of materials (aerosols) available and participated in evaluation of the detectability of aeolian features, specifically dunes, from the Huygen's probe associated with the Cassini Mission.
Observing Assistant:
Maintained observing logs and contributed minor technical assistance for the observations of IR spectra of asteroids at the Multiple Mirror Telescope and the Kitt Peak 90" telescopic facility. Participated in data interpretation.
Graduate Research Assistant:
Assisted in operating finite element code simulations of impact cratering. Specifically obtained model data concerning the creation of different amounts of impact melt from various impactor and target materials and densities, in the presence of gravity.
Research Assistant:
Collected, reduced, analyzed and archived solar irradiance data from 17 sites around the world for the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG). Analyzed and corrected data for airmass and other atmospheric conditions, and kept highly detailed records of occurrences at each site. Serviced the solar irradiance monitor for the Tucson site. This data was used to determine the most appropriate sites for the final six GONG doppler instruments.
Undergraduate Research Assistant:
Identified, characterized and digitized crater data for Veneras 15 and 16. Speculations on the origins and ages of circular surface features on Venus were made by comparisons of morphology and impact crater size/frequency distributions with populations in the inner solar system. Ran Monte Carlo computer simulations which attempted to reproduce an observed displacement in the crater size/frequency distributions on the heavily cratered areas of the Moon, Mars and Mercury.
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Jennifer A. Grier / jgrier@lpl.arizona.edu