Yo Matsubara

Post Doctoral Fellow

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

matsubaray@si.edu

 

Yo Matsubara is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies studying the environment of the early Mars using simulation models.  Although currently Mars is a very cold and dry planet, it is evident from numerous fluvial features that Mars was episodically warm enough to support an active hydrological cycle.  How much warmer and wetter still remain unanswered.  Unlike Earth, where landforms are constantly being altered by tectonic, fluvial, mass wasting, and other processes, older geomorphic surfaces are generally well preserved on Mars. Through landform evolution modeling, we can study the crater degradation and interaction of cratering with other processes and ultimately constrain the long-term environment of early Mars. 

 

Yo received her BS in Geology from N.C. State University in 2003 and MS and PhD in Environmental Sciences (Geosciences) from University of Virginia in 2007 and 2013, respectively.  She had two main topics for her graduate work: 1. Estimating the climatic condition required to form overflowing crater basins and valley network using a computer model, and 2. Understanding how meandering channels form on Mars.  Her interest in the planet Mars comes from Mars’ similarity to the Earth and how it shows us that we have so much to learn about our own planet.