Prognosis of Ti abundance in Sinus Iridum using a nonlinear analysis of Chang' E‐1 Interference Imaging Spectrometer imagery

Abstract

AbstractWe report here on the relationship between titanium abundance and its spectral features on the Moon, using 36 craters exposed in Sinus Iridum, a landing site for China's Lunar Exploration Program. Six absorption parameters (full width at half maximum, absorption depth (D), absorption position (λ), absorption area (A), absorption asymmetry (S), and (Rmin)) at the wavelength of 500–550 nm were computed, and the lowest reflectance values (Rmin) to characterize the properties of titanium abundance and its spectral features were calculated. The correlation between Rmin and TiO2 abundance calculated by Clementine multispectral images is 0.812, and a second‐order polynomial fits the data better with a correlation of 0.837. The TiO2 abundance inversed by the Chang' E‐1 Interference Imaging Spectrometers (IIM) data is thus relatively higher than that revealed by the Clementine data. This good correlation between Rmin and TiO2 abundance may thus be used very effectively to estimate the Ti distribution on the surface of the Moon by IIM hyperspectral data.