Diurnal change of MW and IR thermal emissions from lunar craters with relevance to rock abundance

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Diurnal change of MW and IR thermal emissions from lunar craters with relevance to rock abundance

Gong, Xiaohui / Jin, Ya-Qiu

Abstract Abnormal “hot spots” during a total eclipse on the lunar surface were revealed by using a ground based infrared (IR) scanner and visible telescope in the early 1960s, which turned out to be “cold spots” on the microwave (MW) brightness temperature distribution at night according to the Chang'E (CE)-1 radiometer's observations. In this paper, a theoretical analysis of radiative transfer is presented to explain this abnormal phenomenon of diurnal changes. Two typical craters, representing the abnormal fresh craters rich in rock abundance and an old one almost free of rocks located at similar latitudes are chosen for comparison of the diurnal temperature change. Using the measurements of CE-1 multi-channel microwave radiometer, brightness temperatures from these two craters are presented and applied to inversions of the physical temperatures of lunar regolith media, based on a three-layer radiative transfer model. The correlation between the diurnal MW and IR thermal changes of the lunar surface and the rock abundance is discussed.

Highlights ► Chang'E (CE)-1 microwave brightness temperature. ► Radiative transfer of layering media. ► Inversion of diurnal physical temperatures. ► “Cold spots” of CE-1MW data and “hot spots” of Diviner IR data.