A laboratory study of the effects of roughness on the thermal infrared spectra of rock surfaces

► Reductions in spectral contrast are not constant across all wavenumbers. ► Spectral contrast decreases until a certain roughness is achieved. ► Spectra do not show a continued decrease in contrast with increasing roughness. ► No complete obscuration of spectral features in any of our data. ► No evidence that similar materials would be difficult to detect in orbital data.