A 70th degree lunar gravity model (GLGM‐2) from Clementine and other tracking data

Abstract

A spherical harmonic model of the lunar gravity field complete to degree and order 70 has been developed from S band Doppler tracking data from the Clementine mission, as well as historical tracking data from Lunar Orbiters 1–5 and the Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellites. The model combines 361,000 Doppler observations from Clementine with 347,000 historical observations. The historical data consist of mostly 60‐s Doppler with a noise of 0.25 to several mm/s. The Clementine data consist of mostly 10‐s Doppler data, with a data noise of 0.25 mm/s for the observations from the Deep Space Network, and 2.5 mm/s for the data from a naval tracking station at Pomonkey, Maryland. Observations provided Clementine, provide the strongest satellite constraint on the Moon's low‐degree field. In contrast the historical data, collected by spacecraft that had lower periapsis altitudes, provide distributed regions of high‐resolution coverage within ±29° of the nearside lunar equator. To obtain the solution for a high‐degree field in the absence of a uniform distribution of observations, we applied an a priori power law constraint of the form 15×10−5/l2 which had the effect of limiting the gravitational power and noise at short wavelengths. Coefficients through degree and order 18 are not significantly affected by the constraint, and so the model permits geophysical analysis of effects of the major basins at degrees 10–12. The GLGM‐2 model confirms major features of the lunar gravity field shown in previous gravitational field models but also reveals significantly more detail, particularly at intermediate wavelengths (103 km). Free‐air gravity anomaly maps derived from the new model show the nearside and farside highlands to be gravitationally smooth, reflecting a state of isostatic compensation. Mascon basins (including Imbrium, Serenitatis, Crisium, Smythii, and Humorum) are denoted by gravity highs first recognized from Lunar Orbiter tracking. All of the major mascons are bounded by annuli of negative anomalies representing significant subsurface mass deficiencies. Mare Orientale appears as a minor mascon surrounded by a horseshoe‐shaped gravity low centered on the Inner and Outer Rook rings that is evidence of significant subsurface structural heterogeneity. Although direct tracking is not available over a significant part of the lunar farside, GLGM‐2 resolves negative anomalies that correlate with many farside basins, including South Pole‐Aitken, Hertzsprung, Korolev, Moscoviense, Tsiolkovsky, and Freundlich‐Sharonov.