4.6 Article

Distribution and anomaly of microwave emission at Lunar South Pole

Journal

SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
Volume 53, Issue 3, Pages 465-474

Publisher

SCIENCE PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s11430-009-0201-1

Keywords

CELMS; lunar; illumination; ice deposit; microwave

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [40601066]
  2. Chinese Chang'E-1 Project Microwave Radiometer Item

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Investigation on Lunar polar area is almost every lunar mission's primary objective in recent years. The rationale behind it is that illumination and ice resources in this area can be potentially very helpful for constructing lunar human base. In this paper, we analyze microwave radiometric characteristics of the Moon by using the newly acquired Chang'E-1 Lunar Microwave Sounder (CELMS) data. Microwave brightness temperature at Lunar South Pole (LSP) is distributed regularly with a style of ring-in-ring, decreasing from equator to pole. Regolith temperature gradient is bigger at lunar equator than at polar area. Brightness temperature diurnal difference decreases with observation frequency. Microwave brightness temperature distribution maps at LSP and Lunar North Pole (LNP) have been made based on the analysis. It is found that microwave brightness temperature becomes to synchronize with elevation beyond -85 degrees latitude. This phenomenon is related to lightening condition and indicates temperature distribution at LSP. The brightness temperature anomaly cold points are potentially cold trap areas for water or ice while hot points imply plenty of illumination resources there.

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