{"title":"Refined 70-cm earth-based lunar radar maps and a new interpretation of the Cruger-Sirsalis cryptomare","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116324","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a new processing approach for Earth-based, 70-cm wavelength, dual-polarization radar data collected using the Arecibo and Green Bank Telescopes. Earth-based data represent the only view of the Moon at this wavelength. This methodology greatly improves the synthetic aperture focusing of the images to their best possible spatial resolution, with a concurrent improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and multi-look summing. Image coverage is also expanded to the full illuminated beam area. Registration to a visible image basemap reduces RMS geographic placement errors to less than ∼2 km. Images collected after the first Planetary Data System archive delivery are also included. Analysis of the circular polarization ratio (CPR) suggests an uncertainty of ∼20 %, based on the likely ∼1 dB error in estimating the background noise in a radar look. We use the new 70-cm maps with topography and 12.6-cm radar images to revisit an initial study of cryptomare units in the Cruger-Sirsalis region, and find that mare contamination of the Orientale ejecta must be well-mixed with highland material, as opposed to the earlier hypothesis of a highland-dominated blanket over mare-rich regolith. This result shows that the two radar wavelengths provide a more complete view of the cryptomare regolith cross section, and that radar signatures can delineate ilmenite contamination of highlands areas where multi-spectral methods are limited by other factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13199,"journal":{"name":"Icarus","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Icarus","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103524003841","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We present a new processing approach for Earth-based, 70-cm wavelength, dual-polarization radar data collected using the Arecibo and Green Bank Telescopes. Earth-based data represent the only view of the Moon at this wavelength. This methodology greatly improves the synthetic aperture focusing of the images to their best possible spatial resolution, with a concurrent improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and multi-look summing. Image coverage is also expanded to the full illuminated beam area. Registration to a visible image basemap reduces RMS geographic placement errors to less than ∼2 km. Images collected after the first Planetary Data System archive delivery are also included. Analysis of the circular polarization ratio (CPR) suggests an uncertainty of ∼20 %, based on the likely ∼1 dB error in estimating the background noise in a radar look. We use the new 70-cm maps with topography and 12.6-cm radar images to revisit an initial study of cryptomare units in the Cruger-Sirsalis region, and find that mare contamination of the Orientale ejecta must be well-mixed with highland material, as opposed to the earlier hypothesis of a highland-dominated blanket over mare-rich regolith. This result shows that the two radar wavelengths provide a more complete view of the cryptomare regolith cross section, and that radar signatures can delineate ilmenite contamination of highlands areas where multi-spectral methods are limited by other factors.
期刊介绍:
Icarus is devoted to the publication of original contributions in the field of Solar System studies. Manuscripts reporting the results of new research - observational, experimental, or theoretical - concerning the astronomy, geology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, biology, and other scientific aspects of our Solar System or extrasolar systems are welcome. The journal generally does not publish papers devoted exclusively to the Sun, the Earth, celestial mechanics, meteoritics, or astrophysics. Icarus does not publish papers that provide "improved" versions of Bode''s law, or other numerical relations, without a sound physical basis. Icarus does not publish meeting announcements or general notices. Reviews, historical papers, and manuscripts describing spacecraft instrumentation may be considered, but only with prior approval of the editor. An entire issue of the journal is occasionally devoted to a single subject, usually arising from a conference on the same topic. The language of publication is English. American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these.