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Development, importance, and effect of a ground truth correction for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper reflectance data set
Author(s) -
Isaacson Peter J.,
Petro Noah E.,
Pieters Carle M.,
Besse Sebastien,
Boardman Joseph W.,
Clark Roger N.,
Green Robert O.,
Lundeen Sarah,
Malaret Erick,
McLaughlin Stephanie,
Sunshine Jessica M.,
Taylor Lawrence A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: planets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9100
pISSN - 2169-9097
DOI - 10.1002/jgre.20048
Subject(s) - ground truth , terrain , remote sensing , thematic mapper , data set , absorption (acoustics) , wavelength , geology , absorption band , mineralogy , optics , materials science , environmental science , physics , mathematics , statistics , computer science , geography , cartography , satellite imagery , artificial intelligence
We evaluate the effect and importance of a ground truth correction for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3 ) level 2 (reflectance) data set. This correction is derived from extensive laboratory characterizations of mature feldspathic lunar soils and is designed to improve the accuracy of 1 µm absorption features in M 3 reflectance data. To evaluate the correction, the band strength across a subset of the feldspathic highlands terrane (FHT) is analyzed with M 3 imaging spectroscopy data. Using M 3 reflectance data and derived products, we find significant differences in band strength and shape between M 3 observations collected over identical terrain but under different observational and operational conditions. The ground truth correction minimizes these differences in 1 µm band strengths and also brings the 1 µm band strengths measured with M 3 data into closer agreement with laboratory measurements of lunar soil samples. Although the FHT region studied was found to have very low band strengths, the M 3 ground truth correction results in overall stronger absorption features for all mature soils relative to uncorrected level 2 (reflectance) data for the same region. These differences between M 3 data collected under different operational conditions and the effects of the ground truth correction, while minor in appearance, can have significant implications for interpretations of any regional soil analyses with M 3 data that rely on absolute 1 µm absorption feature strength. The M 3 ground truth correction corrects only wavelengths below ~1500 nm, and comparisons between corrected and uncorrected wavelengths must be done with caution.