GIANT PLANTS & LAKES
OF WATER
Report # 020
May 17, 2001
Joseph P. Skipper
J. P. Skipper can be reached at jskipper@marsanomalyresearch.com
This report and images are taken from the MOC image strip # M09-02042 and this can be considered a companion to my previous report arising out of MOC image strip # M08-04688 found HERE at this web site. In that first M08-04688 report on these giant plants discovered by another party, there are more views of the plants and of their different life cycle stages. In that previous report, I mentioned that I had already discovered these plants myself earlier and that I would report on my own discovery. This is one of the image strips that I had been holding back that is my own discovery of these giant plants. Like the measurements in the previous report, the plant in the above image center right that stands fairly alone measures a incredible .99 km or 1,082 yards across at the widest point. My comments in the M08-04688 report goes in spades for the plants seen here. However, the image below presents another and main reason why I did not report on these giant plants earlier.
As you can see by the above image, this is one of my better water discoveries that I've been holding back. This is not one of my most spectacular but it is, in my opinion, one of the most convincing for liquid surface water. Even with the poor resolution of the original image strip, these lake systems with water in them are so obvious that I can't imagine anyone being unable to properly identify them for what they are or inclined to try and denounce such obvious water finds as something else. The lake in the lower right of the image is about 492 yards (450 meters) across at its widest point and over double that in length just to give you an idea what we are looking at here size wise. The island in one lake is a nice touch that puts the scene in perspective helping identify these lakes for what they are.
In the above image, we see yet another smaller lake located well of to the right of those in the second image and sitting alone. I suspect that the anomaly in the lower right corner is water but whatever is located around its perimeter is covered up by a heavy dose of light colored foggy image tampering which in turn interferes with identification of the water.
IMAGE TAMPERING ISSUES
This image strip has a lot of image tampering and carelessness issues. For example, whether intentional or not, someone has been playing free and loose with the official image strips at the MSSS web site. The first listed medium quality jpeg strip and the second listed best quality gif strip are both listed as being in the sinusoidal (map-projected) view as is normally the case but that is not correct because each is presented only in a straight vertical non-mapped projected view with no border. The third listed gif strip is normally presented in a not map-projected view and that is the case. However, all three strips have been flipped vertically and horizontally the same way at official level. The narrow angle M09-02042 strip is presented so narrow and thin at Malin's web site that you can not discover or confirm the flipping by a direct comparison with the accompanying M09-02043 wide-angle companion context image at that web site. However, getting the narrow-angle strip in a software program that can blow it up some just enough to demonstrate some needed details in it will enable a comparison with the wide-angle context image and reveal this problem.
Has this resulted in a lot of distortion in the largest anomalies like the plants and water? No, not much that I can see. I mention this because I don't want others to start blaming me for any of these problems. In addition, in my opinion, this entire image strip's resolution has been tampered with resulting in only the largest of objects being able to be seen at all and it has been compressed to a very narrow band. The result is that this strip can not be blown up very large without critical loss of detail and none of the views has any border area. Because of these factors, you should know that, before I sourced any of my images, I flipped the strip back to the correct orientation that agrees with the wide-angle context image view. Because all the images were straight with no boarder and because the strip can't be blown up very far without loosing a lot of detail, this caused me to make some changes in my normal presentation. So, I rotated the 2nd listed best quality gif image 90 degrees CCW (counter-clock wise) and took my images here from this horizontal orientation to maximize the amount of view in my images. Again, I can detect no distortions by any of these changes visual to the eye.
But, the tampering with this image strip does not stop with the overall strip. There has also been quite a bit of object specific image tampering in the strip as well. As a sample, take a look at the above image. Except for the effects of blowing the image up too large beyond the point where the objects (plants) in the image begin to look kind of crummy without sufficient detail, it otherwise looks fairly normal. But, pay special attention to the open areas between the plants and record this this fairly normal looking open terrain scene in your brain for comparison with the same exact scene below but now in a inverted view.
As you can see, the open ground now takes on a entirely different character and the image tampering should be obvious unless you think that this heavy fogging look is natural on Mars with its thin atmosphere? When I questioned the open areas in my report on the M08-04688 images, I could not in good conscious make a image tampering call even though I was suspicious. Here in this image strip, I can make the call easily and without reservation because the application is heavier, more crude, and more poorly done. Here you can see an example of what I mean when I have referred in other reports to the artful creation of terrain illusions with some of this image tampering. Here, the tampering process appears to have been applied in the inverted view and then returned to a normal view where the tampering then looked almost like natural terrain. It's like the shell game, now you see it and now you don't. This is only a sample, there is a lot more of this in the strip and they are even much more obvious but no space for presenting them here.
One thing I've learned about this MOC image tampering in its many different forms, it is very extensive in the MOC images released to the public and it always deals with civilization evidence. Seen in the inverted view, there are large broad areas of this all around in the original of this M09-02042 strip as released to the public. It appears that the idea was to first reduce the resolution of the strip as a whole which distorts any view of even fairly large buildings making them very tiny and indistinct but leaves the much larger size water and the plants for discovery even if they are not seen in good sharp detail. Then the next step is to cover up anything larger such as industrial sites, aircraft facilities, big monuments, etc. with the object specific image tampering you see here.
This image tampering is a factor that just can not be ignored causing me to look very carefully at the terrain surrounding the water discoveries here. Now I do not see any object specific image tampering around the lakes but the cover-up is left to the reduced resolution tampering which has reduced the highly regular knobby appearing terrain around the lakes to basically a indistinct jumble. When blown up in PhotoShop, all of this regular knobby area starts resolving itself into geometric shapes that suggests massive numbers of buildings with all the implications. However, more telling, in the above image I draw your attention to the lake on the left and then I want you to look closely at the right shoreline of that lake on land right at the edge of the water. In my opinion, what we are looking at there is a line of larger buildings right at the shoreline whose geometric building shape outline is not quite totally destroyed by the reduced resolution. Further, these taller and larger (compared to their surroundings) buildings also extend all along the hidden creek system I've identified in the image and it is those buildings and the lower water pool labeled above that identify the creek path rather than seeing the creek itself.
The reason that the sides of the lakes on the sunlight receiving side demonstrate such a light glowing color that follows the contours of the lake edge is, in my opinion, not because of sunlight reflecting off of a high embankment, cliff, or bluff but because the light is being caught and reflected off the sides and roofs of the tall buildings located at water's edge. Too bad the resolution in the original strip is so poor that it makes this all run together giving the appearance of a unbroken line. Also, the top center "V" shape is a reservoir and small enough that the water is all in cast shadow. There is a dark large object in the shadow out in the reservoir that is too indistinct to see any details of but may be a industrial facility of some kind relating to the reservoir.
Believe me, I dislike harping about this image tampering evidence and the civilization evidence to when it is so indistinct and ambiguous as it is here. I fully realize when I do this that many will dismiss it (and me) as too much of a stretch and too incredulous and, unfortunately, the obvious giant plant and water evidence will get ignored as well. On the other hand, it is also part of what is in these images and I am therefore compelled to present all of the evidence that I find that I think at least some can see. As a professional investigator, I have through the years been tempted many times to report what people want to hear/see or at least fail to report what people do not want to hear/see. However, I would rather be judged harshly in the short run rather than be judged conclusively to be found inept and wanting by posterity in the long run and appear to have been fooled by this manipulation by others wishing to maintain secretes and thereby power.
DOCUMENTATION
http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/m07_m12/images/M09/M0902042.html: My evidence is sourced from NASA/JPL/MSSS's official M09-02042 image strip. Note that both the M09-02042 narrow-angle strip and its companion M09-02043 wide-angle context image strip can be found at this URL should you wish to compare to determine correct orientations between the two strips. All three M09-02042 image strip views work but remember that all have been flipped horizontally and vertically the same way and all are presented only in the straight vertical not-map projected view. I sourced my images from the 2nd listed best quality gif strip and corrected the orientation to match that in the companion context image. I also then rotated the strip 90 degrees CCW before cropping my images out of it to maximize image exposure since the strip could not be blown up very large without loosing too much detail because of resolution limitations placed on this strip at official level. However, the giant plant and water lake anomalies can be easily seen and confirmed without any real visual distortion by just looking at what MSSS has there with incorrect orientations. So, don't hesitate to use any of these MSSS strips. I have not accessed this material at PDS or USGS and can not say what has been done with it there. Good Luck!
Joseph P. Skipper, Discoverer
