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Volume 60 Supplement 4

Special Issue: Lunar Science with the SELENE “Kaguya” Mission-Prelaunch Studies-

An improved scheme for modeling the reflectance spectra of space-weathered regoliths

Earth, Planets and Space volume 60, pages 271–275 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

In the remote detection of mineral compositions of planetary surface materials on airless bodies, space weathering is an obstacle which makes reflectance spectra redder and darker and weakens spectral features. This study attempts to model an effect of space weathering due to vapor coating by accounting for the change in surface reflectivity of regolith particles wherein nanophase-reduced iron (npFe0) particles are concentrated on their surfaces. When applied to a suite of reflectance spectra of lunar soils having different degrees of space weathering, this model can estimate the degrees of space weathering in terms of the thicknesses of the coating layer and provide an absorption coefficient spectrum of the host material.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Tokuhiro Nimura, Takahiro Hiroi & Carle M. Pieters

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Tokuhiro Nimura

  3. Department of Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229-8510, Japan

    Tokuhiro Nimura

Authors
  1. Tokuhiro Nimura
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  2. Takahiro Hiroi
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  3. Carle M. Pieters
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Correspondence to Tokuhiro Nimura.

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Nimura, T., Hiroi, T. & Pieters, C.M. An improved scheme for modeling the reflectance spectra of space-weathered regoliths. Earth Planet Sp 60, 271–275 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352791

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352791

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