I am a planetary scientist working as a postdoctoral researcher for the Planetary Imaging Group (PIG) at the University of Bern, Switzerland. My research is centred on the acquisition and analysis of spacecraft observations of planetary surfaces. I combine these observations with computer models of geomorphic processes and laboratory studies of planetary material simulants, in order to learn about the climatic and geologic history of the planet. In particular, I study processes related to ices and volatile elements, and how their physical properties and distribution are connected to a planet's climatic history. Currently, through a combination of sub-surface radar sounding, high-resolution images, and laboratory studies of simulant soils, I am studying the stratigraphy of the water ice deposits preserved in the polar regions of Mars, and how it relates to geologically recent climate change. 

Contact

Space Research and Planetary Sciences
Physikalisches Institut
Universität Bern
Gesellschaftsstrasse 6
CH-3012 Bern
Switzerland 

Office: +41 31 631 48 17
email: patricio.becerra@space.unibe.ch 
Background image: HiRISE image of the margin of Mars' North Polar Layered Deposits and the Tleilax dune field