The Processing of Lunar Penetrating Radar Channel-2B Data from Chang’E-3

Abstract:

The Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) carried by Chang’E-3 has imaged the shallow subsurface of the landing site at the northern Mare Imbrium. The antenna B of the Channel-2 onboard the LPR (LPR Channel-2B) has collected more than 20000 traces of raw data. The raw LPR data could not be directly used for geological interpretation because of the operation mode of the LPR, noise and fast attenuation of radar wave. This study focuses data preprocessing and processing methods to obtain higher quality data. A section of usable LPR data of over 2000 traces is gained after the preprocessing of selecting, splicing, removing delay time and fine-correcting to raw data, but only a few shallow geological structures are visible. To further improve the resolution and the signal-to-noise ratio of the LPR data, we have processed the LPR data including amplitude compensation, filtering, and deconvolution processes based on electromagnetic wave theory. The processing results reveal that (1) the spherical spreading compensation and auto gain control enhance the amplitude of reflection echoes from deeper strata and make the geological structures more obvious, (2) the spiking deconvolution applied to narrow reflection events down makes it possible to identify thin layers with 30% improved resolution, and (3) the band-pass filtering removes the multiple reflections and, consequently, improves the signal-to-noise ratio of LPR data. The processing results will lay the foundation for the subsequent geological interpretation and physical property inversion of lunar materials.