Improved Chandrayaan-1 M3 data: A northwest portion of the Aristarchus Plateau and contiguous maria

Abstract

We provide and test a method to obtain significant improvement of available Chandrayaan-1 M3 data. The advance is achieved using the Gaussian λ-convolution of spectra and Fourier filtration of images. The main result is imagery of the reflectance across different wavelengths as well as parameters of 1 µm and 2 µm absorption bands with unprecedented quality. This approach can be particularly useful for further investigations using M3 data, since it produces improved imagery of various lunar surface characteristics. We studied a region comprising a portion of the Aristarchus Plateau, Montes Agricola, and a small part of the mare surface in Ocean Procellarum to the north of Montes Agricola. We found that the lava flows in the area between the Aristarchus Plateau and Montes Agricola have a chemical/mineral composition different in comparison with mare areas to the northwest of the ridge Montes Agricola. We also identified distinct spectral properties of morphologically young craters located on the plateau and mare surface. A correlation diagram for positions of the minima of the 1 µm and 2 µm bands allows a cluster analysis of the region, and we map areas associated with a cluster corresponding to pyroclastic glasses. Relationships between geologic and spectral parameter maps were established.