Work

Effect of Boulder‐Size Distributions on Thermally Derived Rock Abundances on the Moon

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Rock abundance, defined as the surface's fractional area covered by rocks, is used to characterize the Moon's regolith, decipher its impact history, and assess potential landing sites. By definition, it should be agnostic to rock‐size distributions. However, it has been suggested that rock abundances, derived from surface temperatures measured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner radiometer, are not. Systematic analyses of the effect of rock‐size distributions on Diviner‐derived rock abundances have been hindered by the laborious nature of manually mapping individual boulders from optical images. Here, we conduct such an analysis from automated boulder detections in high‐resolution LRO Narrow Angle Camera images using BoulderNet, a boulder segmentation machine‐learning model. We present a comparison of BoulderNet‐ and Diviner‐derived rock abundances and find that, although both data sets are strongly correlated, rock abundances derived from thermophysical modeling are underestimated in areas with a greater proportion of smaller rocks relative to larger ones.

Source: Journal of Geophysical Research Planets

DOI: 10.1029/2024je008769

Authors: Brian Amaro, Nils Prieur, Lior Rubanenko, Paul Hayne, Mathieu Lapôtre

Institutions: Stanford University, Tel Aviv University, University of Colorado Boulder

Language: English

Topic: Planetary Science and Exploration

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,070

Funder: European Commission