Automatic Detection of Martian Impact CratersBased on Digital Elevation Model

Abstract

Due to uncertainties of illumination and incidence in image processing,a method that impact craters are automatically detected and recognized based on the DEM from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimetery (MOLA) aboard Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is proposed in this paper.Topographic curvature,which delineates impact craters,can be deduced from topography data.The thresholding map of curvature is transformed in to a binary map,from which we can detect impact craters by combination of segmentation and flooding algorithms.The true rate is 73.4% in detecting craters.More impact craters on Mars with confirmation algorithm can be effectively detected truly,which are added to the existing catalog of manually identified Martian craters.

Keywords

Martian craters / automatic recognition / digital elevation model