没有证据表明月球南极有厚厚的冰层
Donald B Campbell1, Bruce A Campbell, Lynn M Carter
1Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. campbell@astro.cornell.edu
Nature
|October 20, 2006
概括
新的雷达图像显示,在月球的沙克尔顿火山口没有缩的水冰沉积物. 极化特性表明表面的岩石,而不是冰,解释雷达信号,对未来的月球任务具有挑战性的假设.
科学领域:
- 月球科学 月球科学
- 行星地质学 行星地质学
- 遥感是一种远程传感.
背景情况:
- 月球南极的沙克尔顿火山口是缩水冰沉积物的潜在地点.
- 之前的雷达研究和建模表明,在极地寒冷陷中存在水冰.
- 在极地地区检测到的增强缺乏物种识别和分布数据.
研究的目的:
- 用高分辨率雷达数据调查沙克尔顿火山口水冰的存在和分布.
- 为了确定雷达散射特性,永久阴影区域和月球地形特征之间的关系.
- 评估使用雷达偏振特性推断水冰存在的有效性.
主要方法:
- 采集和分析了新的20米分辨率,13厘米波长的月球南极雷达图像.
- 检查雷达偏振特性及其与表面特征和太阳照明的相关性.
- 将新的雷达数据与以前的发现和分布数据进行比较.
主要成果:
- 在沙克尔顿火山口或其他南极地区没有发现集中水冰沉积物的证据.
- 观察到的雷达偏振特性,通常与冰相关,与岩石坑壁和喷射物有很强的相关性.
- 在极化特性和太阳照射程度之间没有发现任何相关性.
结论:
- 沙克尔顿火山口中缩的水冰的存在没有得到新的雷达数据的支持.
- 雷达散射特性很可能受到表面地质的影响,特别是岩石地形,而不是广泛的冰.
- 如果的增强表明了水冰,那么它很可能以颗粒的形式在月球岩层中传播,而不是作为缩的沉积物.
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