Phase compensation of MARSIS subsurface sounding data and estimation of ionospheric properties: New insights from SHARAD results

Subsurface radar sounding observations by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) and Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instruments are affected by ionospheric phase distortions that lead to image blurring and delay offsets. Based on experience with SHARAD image correction, we propose that ionospheric blurring in MARSIS radargrams may be compensated with a model of smoothly varying quadratic phase errors along the track. This method yields well‐focused radargrams for geologic interpretation and allows analysis of the validity range for models used to derive total electron content (TEC) from phase distortion terms in previous MARSIS studies. The quadratic term appears to be a good proxy for TEC at solar zenith angles >65° for MARSIS Band 4 (5 MHz) and >75° for Band 3 (4 MHz). Comparison of MARSIS‐ and SHARAD‐derived TEC values from 2007 to 2014 reveals correlations in seasonal behavior and in the characterization of ionospheric activity due to coronal mass ejections. We also present SHARAD and MARSIS evidence for a persistent region of anomalous radar scattering south of Arsia Mons. These echoes have been previously suggested to arise from refraction of the radar signal by electron density variations. There are no strong signatures, however, in the quadratic image compensation term correlated with the anomalous scattering, suggesting either that electron density variations responsible for refracted signal paths occur primarily in regions offset from the spacecraft track or that these density changes have a minimal impact on the integrated phase distortion of the subspacecraft footprint. We suggest observations and analyses to better constrain the mechanism and timing of such echoes.