Topography of the lunar south polar region - Implications for the location and distribution of permanently shaded areas

Details Topography of the lunar south polar region - Implications for the location and distribution of permanently shaded areas Topography of the lunar south polar region - Implications for the location and distribution of permanently shaded areas

Mar 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997lpi....28.1339s&link_type=abstract

Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 339.

Computer Science

Lunar Surface, Topography, Ice, Lunar Shadow, Clementine Spacecraft, Lunar Craters, Radar Imagery, Polar Regions, Multistatic Radar, Structural Basins

Scientific paper

We perform an analysis of Clementine altimetry to understand the extent to which the location and distribution of any permanently shadowed region(s) can be clarified and quantified on the basis of our present knowledge of lunar topography. We recognize that the altimetry does not extend into the region in question but does completely surround it. Our analysis yields a conservative estimate of the elevation of the moon in the vicinity of the south pole of -1 +/- 2 km (relative to the mean) with an average long wavelength slope of less than 0.5 deg, much less than the 1.6-deg lunar obliquity. The data demonstrate that permanent shadowing is very unlikely to be a consequence of the south pole-Aitken Basin and that any perennially dark regions must be a due to much shorter length scale (50 km) topography such as small craters, nearly centered on the pole.

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