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Under certain conditions, radar is able to penetrate loose sand to reveal subsurface geology in arid areas. However, backscatter from the subsurface is modified by signal attenuation by the sand. To quantify the amount of radar attenuation, a laboratory experiment was conducted to measure radar transmission as a function of radar frequency and sand moisture. The frequency range covers P- through X-bands (0.5-12.6 GHz), and the moisture contents of the sand were 0.3, 4.7, and 10.7% by volume. Results show that addition of the sand causes a small decrease in transmission at low frequencies for all three moisture levels, but the sand causes a larger decrease in transmission at higher frequencies. The transmission measurements were also used to calculate values for attenuation. The dry sand resulted in attenuations of less than 6 dB/m over the entire frequency range. Sand with moisture contents of 4.7 and 10.7% volume caused by attenuations greater than 150 dB/m at the highest frequencies, but the attenuation values calculated for P- and L-band frequencies were less than 10 dB/m even at these relatively high moisture levels. These results challenge previous restrictions that sand must be extremely dry for radar penetration to occur. Index Terms--Microwave attenuation, radar penetration, subsurface imaging.

Altimetric profiles from the Clementine LIDAR are used to calculate the depths of 29 large craters and basins on the Moon. Plotting the depths of the best preserved structures together with values for simple and complex craters measured in pre-Clementine studies reveals an inflection in the depth/diameter (d/D) curve in addition to the one revealed by pre-Clementine data. This inflection occurs in the diameter range that corresponds to the morphologic transition from complex crater to basin. The best empirical power law fit for basin depths is [log.sub.10]0(d) = 0.41 x [[[log.sub.10](D)].sup.0.57]. This relationship is characterized by a lower slope than that for complex craters, demonstrating that this morphologic transition corresponds to a further decrease in the depth of an impact structure relative to its diameter with increasing size. Qualitative consideration of possible causes for the second inflection leads to the conclusion that it is most likely a consequence of a short-term modification mechanism that influences fundamental crater morphology, such as the increasing influence of gravity with diameter. Thicknesses of maria in the major basins are calculated by assuming that their unfilled depths would follow the d/d relation. Results are compared with previous estimates and yield thicknesses that are generally greater than those determined by studies of flooded craters and less than those obtained from analysis of gravity. Key Words: moon; moon surface; cratering; impact processes; collisional physics.

During the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM), impact features on Europa were observed with improved resolution and coverage was compared with Voyager or the Galileo nominal mission. We surveyed all primary impact features [is greater than] 4 km in diameter seen on Europa (through orbit E19). The transition from simple to complex crater morphology occurs at a diameter of about 5 km. We calculated the transient crater dimensions and excavation depths of all craters surveyed. The largest impact feature (Tyre) probably had a transient crater depth between 5 and 10 km and transported material to the surface from a depth of not greater than ~4 km. Craters [is less than] 30 km in diameter, such as Manannan and Pwyll, formed within targets whose immediate subcrater materials exhibited nonfluid behavior on time scales of the impact event, and that are capable, especially in the case of Pwyll, of supporting significant local topographic loads such as a central peak. These craters are nevertheless quite shallow, with very subdued floors, and we suspect that Manannan and Pwyll's small depth-to-diameter ratios are due to the isostatic adjustment of large-scale topography, facilitated by warm, plastically deformable ice at depth. Morphological similarities between Callanish and Tyre strongly imply that conclusions reached regarding Callanish in J. Moore et al. (1998, Icarus 135, 127-145) also apply to Tyre, which was that Callanish is the consequence of impact into target materials that are mechanically very weak at depth. New evidence that Callanish's circumferential rings formed before the proximal ejecta became immobile implies a low-viscosity substrate at the time of impact. We also report additional evidence that a component of the proximal ejecta of Callanish was emplaced as a fluid. Our observations of Pwyll secondaries support the conclusions stated in Alpert and Melosh (1999) that impacts on icy bodies eject smaller fragments and that fragment size decreases more gradually as velocity increases than observed for impacts on silicate bodies at equivalent ejection velocities. Examination of Pwyll's secondary craters reveals azimuthal variations, with ejecta fragment sizes being larger near the center of a ray than off the ray. Our initial analysis of the characteristic size distribution of Pwyll's secondary craters shows that they form a differential slope slightly shallower than -4. Similar steep slopes for small craters on Ganymede imply that small craters there are mostly formed by secondary impact, and the jovian system may thus be deficient in small impacts relative to the environment of the terrestrial planets. [C] 2001 Academic Press Key Words: Europa; cratering; satellites of Jupiter.