Research on microwave thermal emission at Tycho area and its geological significance

Abstract

Tycho crater is the most prominent crater of Copernican era. In this paper, the spatial and temporal features of the microwave thermal emission (MTE) at Tycho area are studied with the microwave sounder (CELMS) data combined with TiO 2 abundance, surface slope and roughness, rock abundance data of lunar regolith. The results indicate that MTE at the south part of Tycho crater (Region A) is strongly affected by the surface temperature, and the temperature difference between the exterior and interior of the lunar regolith layer is fairly large. While MTE at the north part of Tycho crater floor (Region B) is weakly affected by the surface temperature, and the temperature difference between the exterior and interior is rather small. Moreover, the vertical structure of the lunar regolith at the east part of Region B is different from that at the west. Furthermore, the radiation here reaches the thermal equilibrium state after 3 A.M. in the morning, which is of essential significance to study the thermal structure characteristic of the Moon. The lunar regolith at the ejecta blanket is similar to that at Region B, while its thermal storage capacity is much higher than that of other places. The correlation analysis presents that the surface roughness and rock abundance have the largest impact on the MTE, followed by surface slope and TiO 2 abundance.