Spectral properties /0.04 to 0.75 microns/ of soils exposed at the Viking 1 landing site
The bidirectional reflectance and photometric function (Hapke, 1981) was determined for seven patches of soil located near the Viking Lander 1 spacecraft. The soil photometric function has a prominent opposition effect in addition to a phase function that is strongly backscattering. The ratio of reflectances at a 1 deg phase angle to that at a 10 deg phase angle averages 1.25, 1.24, and 1.19 for blue, green, and red wavelengths respectively. The photometric function has a wavelength dependence, which causes color ratios to vary by up to 33% as a function of phase angle. Estimates of soil reflectance at a 5 deg phase angle averaged over the blue and green passbands of the Viking Lander cameras are 0.11 and 0.17, respectively, while estimates over the red channel range from 0.30 to 0.39. Brightness and color variations within the soil can be correlated with particle size, finer-grained soil being brighter and redder than coarser-grained soil. Lander soils, homogeneous in nature, are typical of brighter soils covering a large portion of the Martian surface.