A laboratory study of the bidirectional reflectance from particulate samples

The Hapke (Hapke, B. [1981]. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 3039–3054) photometric model and its modifications are widely used to characterize telescopic, spacecraft, and laboratory observations of the bidirectional reflectance of particulate surfaces. Following work and methods laid out in a companion paper (Helfenstein, P., Shepard, M.K. [2011]. Icarus, in press), we deconstruct the Hapke model and, separating all empirical and ad hoc parameters (opposition surge, particle phase function, surface roughness), combine them into a single parameter called the surface phase function, F(α). We illustrate how to extract this function from scattering data sets acquired with the Bloomsburg University Goniometer (BUG). We show how this method can be used to rapidly and accurately characterize bidirectional reflectance data sets from laboratory and spacecraft measurements, often giving better fits to the data. We examine samples with strong color contrasts in different wavelengths. This allows us to examine the exact same surface, changing only the albedo to investigate how the amplitude and the detailed shape of the surface phase function might systematically depend on wavelength and albedo. We also examine the changes in scattering behavior that result when samples are compacted and find the surface phase function and single scattering albedo to be significantly changed. We suggest that these observations support the hypothesis that much of the scattering behavior attributed to the single particle phase function is instead cause by the surface micro-structure.

► Introduce a surface phase function to improve fits to bidirectional reflectance data.
► Example of fit to spacecraft data of 433 Eros.
► Observed changes in laboratory scattering behavior when single scattering albedo varies.
► Changes in laboratory scattering behavior as porosity changes.