Simulations of lunar equatorial regolith temperature profile based on measurements of Diviner on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Abstract

Lunar equatorial regolith temperature profiles were simulated using the half-limited solid heat conduction model. Based on the infrared data measured using the Diviner radiometer on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched by the United Sates in June 2009, three factors influencing temperature profiles were analyzed. The infrared brightness temperature data from Diviner channel 7 were used to retrieve surface temperature. In simulating regolith temperature profiles, the retrieved temperature, rather than temperatures calculated from solar radiance at the lunar surface, were used as the input for surface temperature in solving the heat-conductive equation. The results showed that the bottom-layer temperature at depths of 6 m approached almost 246 K after 10000 iterations. The temperature was different to the temperature of 250 K at the same depth encountered in simulations using solar radiance. Simulations from both methods of surface temperatures over a lunar day gave similar variations. At lunar night, the temperature difference between the two was about 2 K; the main differences occurred when the solar elevation angle was very low when surface temperatures are largely affected by terrain topography. With no certainty in lunar temperature profiles at present, the advantage of the retrieval method using infrared sensor data as input to the boundary conditions in solving the lunar heat conduction equation is that simulations of surface temperature variations are more accurate. This is especially true in areas with large variations in terrain topography, where surface temperatures vary greatly because of shading from the sunlight.