Investigating the Latitudinal Dependence of Lunar Regolith Properties Using LRO/Diviner Data and a Microphysical Thermal Model
- Regolith is formed through weathering of the local rock by meteorite bombardment, space weathering (Pieters & Noble, 2016) and thermal erosion (Delbo et al., 2014). In the case of the Moon, the space weathering effects and diurnal temperature variations are reduced towards the poles. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the lunar regolith properties derived from the comparison of regolith temperatures measured by the Diviner radiometer (Paige et al., 2010) on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) with simulated temperatures derived from a microphysical thermal model show a latitudinal dependence. The developed microphysical thermal model expands upon previous models by more directly simulating regolith properties, such as grain radius and volume filling factor.
Author: | Johanna BürgerORCiD, Paul Hayne, Bastian Gundlach, Matthias LäuterORCiD, Tobias KramerORCiD, Jürgen BlumORCiD |
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Document Type: | In Proceedings |
Parent Title (English): | Bulletin of the AAS |
Volume: | 55 |
Issue: | 8 |
Year of first publication: | 2023 |
URL: | https://baas.aas.org/pub/2023n8i207p02 |