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Dr Elena Favaro

Profile summary

  • Research Staff
  • PDRA - Aeolian landscapes and processes - Exo Mars
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Physical Sciences
  • elena.favaro

Professional biography

I am a researcher specializing in planetary geomorphology and am currently a member of the ExoMars team focusing on aeolian processes at the Oxia Planum landing site. I received my PhD in Geography from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta. My research investigated bedrock abrasion and bedform evolution on Earth and Mars. I undertook analogue field work in the high altitude arid deserts of Northwestern Argentina, where the landscape is dominated by egnimatic landforms and bedforms common to Mars, like yardangs, aeolian rat tails, periodic bedrock ridges, and megaripples.

Research interests

I am interested in planetary aeolian geomorphology. Specifically, I use aeolain signals in remote areas of Earth and Mars to piece together the complex wind patterns that have affected the region, either contemporaneously or at somepoint in the past. Currently, my main reserach focus is to use the aeolian landforms and bedforms in Oxia Planum to characterize the wind regime before ESA's Rosaland Franklin rover touches down in 2023. In my work, I extensively use NASA HiRISE imagery (a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter spacecraft) and remote sensing tools like ArcGIS Pro. 

 

Publications

Ancient alluvial plains at Oxia Planum, Mars (2023-01-01)
Davis, Joel M.; Balme, Matthew R.; Fawdon, Peter; Grindrod, Peter M.; Favaro, Elena A.; Banham, Steven G. and Thomas, Nicolas
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 601, Article 117904

Jezero crater, Mars: application of the deep learning NOAH-H terrain classification system (2022-08)
Wright, Jack; Barrett, Alexander M.; Fawdon, Peter; Favaro, Elena A.; Balme, Matthew R.; Woods, Mark J. and Karachalios, Spyros
Journal of Maps, 18(2) (pp. 484-496)

Oxia Planum, Mars, classified using the NOAH-H deep-learning terrain classification system (2022)
Barrett, Alexander M.; Wright, Jack; Favaro, Elena; Fawdon, Peter; Balme, Matthew R.; Woods, Mark J.; Karachalios, Spyros; Bohachek, Eleni; Sefton-Nash, Elliot and Joudrier, Luc
Journal of Maps ((Early Access))

Antecedent Controls on the Spatial Organization of Yardangs on the Puna Plateau, Northwestern Argentina (2021-12)
Favaro, Elena A.; Hugenholtz, Chris H. and Barchyn, Thomas E.
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 46(15) (pp. 3063-3077)

The Aeolian Environment of the Landing Site for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover in Oxia Planum, Mars (2021-04)
Favaro, E.A.; Balme, M.R.; Davis, J.; Grindrod, P.M; Fawdon, P.; Barrett, A.M. and Lewis, S.R.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 126, Article e2020JE006723(4)