A high-resolution radar and CCD imaging study of crater rays in Mare Serenitatis and Mare Nectaris

Radar and spectral image processing techniques are reviewed and their application to the rays in Mare Serenitatis and Mare Nectaris is discussed. Analysis of data for Mare Serenitatis shows that the ray that passes west of the Bessel Crater is characterized by up to 40 percent highland ejecta. Radar data show that optically bright ray deposits are characterized by enhanced 1-50 cm scale roughness within the upper meter of the regolith, but not by enhanced 1-10 m blockiness. Stokes vector analysis of the 3.0 cm radar echoes shows that the western portion of the Bessel ejecta blanket is characterized by an anomalously high nondiffuse depolarized return. The ray analyzed in Mare Nectaris passes close to Rosse Crater and is characterized by a cluster of bright secondary craters within a radar-rough halo downrange of Tycho. This downrange deposit is attributed to excavation of local fragmental material by a secondary debris surge.