Thermal Features of Lunar Regolith in Mare Humboldtianum based on
Brightness Temperature Differences and Surface Parameters
Abstract
Mare Humboldtianum is a Nectarian-aged basin on the northeast limb of
the Moon, whose inner ring was flooded by basalt billions of years ago.
The topography of Mare Humbold is rather complex, which makes it
difficult to define the basaltic units only by the spectral data. To
improve understanding of the geological units in Mare Humbold-28 tianum
and provide new interpretations of the formation process, we use the
brightness temperature (TB) data obtained by the Chang’E-2 (CE-2)
mission, which is proved to have a good penetration feature. The TB
difference (dTB) maps at multichannels are created to analyze the TB
variations. The Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN) model is first
used to provide a statistical interpretation of the relation between dTB
distributions and surface parameters. Our results show that, most of the
dTB performances are strongly affected by the topography. Several
abnormally dTB performances are observed on dTB maps. This observation
indicates that there exists two different mare units in the eastern and
western parts in the basin floor. These TB variations are interpreted
that most of the dTB anomalies are strongly related to the special
tectonic features. The statistical results based on BPNN method indicate
that multichannel TB variations reflect different topographic features.
Most of the topographic effects related to dTB variations are found in
the regions controlled by the small craters and topographic bulges in
the basin floor.