South polar craters as observed by LRO Mini-RF

Details South polar craters as observed by LRO Mini-RF South polar craters as observed by LRO Mini-RF

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p13d1733t&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P13D-1733

Other

[5462] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Polar Regions, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon

Scientific paper

Due to the Moon's low orbital inclination, impact craters near the lunar poles contain regions of permanent shadow. These shaded regions have correspondingly low temperatures and are thus potential sinks for lunar volatile species. Mini-RF is a dual-band synthetic aperture radar onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Since radar provides its own illumination, Mini-RF is able to examine the interior of these craters and other locations not observable from Earth-based radar. As reported with similar but lower-resolution SAR data for the lunar north pole [1], numerous craters in the southern polar region exhibit anomalous polarization signatures. In particular, they contain modest interior CPR enhancements (circular polarization ratio), which is the ratio of same sense to opposite sense polarization. Such a signature is consistent with a mixture model of a few percent of water ice mixed with a dry silicate regolith. However, this scattering model assumes the target is a mixture of wavelength-scale (decimeter) chunks of ice and regolith, and thus may not be physically realistic. No empirical scattering models exist for potentially more realistic scenarios with smaller chunks of ice or ice disseminated as thin films around silicate grains. Our initial comparison south polar and non-polar craters indicate that shadowed polar craters record a distinctive and potentially unique polarization. We are currently building up a database of polar and non-polar craters to verify that the polarization signature of polar craters, regardless of origin, is unique to locations that lie in permanent shadow. [1] Spudis, P. D., et al., 2010. Initial results for the north pole of the Moon from Mini-SAR, Chandrayaan-1 mission. GRL 37, L06204.

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