An experimental study of Hapke’s modeling of natural granular surface samples

A series of natural granular surfaces composed of volcanic samples that widely vary in grain sizes (from the micron-scale to the millimeter-scale), shapes, surface aspects, origins, and including glass and minerals, has been measured in the visible domain with the spectro-imaging device ISEP (Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France) and inverted by photometric modeling. The experimental protocol makes use of a specific set of multiangular configurations (on the order of a few tens) with sufficient angular diversity and coverage of the bidirectional space to resolve differences in particle phase function behavior and surface texture. This restrained set delivers comparable results in terms of photometric parameters to those produced with a dense set of hundreds of measurements. The considered samples in this work have been chosen to assess the influence of varied physical properties on light scattering behavior. The following specific photometric trends are found. Samples comprising fresh glass or monocrystals in a proportion on the order of 30% or more (from binocular magnifying glass inspection) are extremely forward scattering with narrow scattering lobes, and the larger the particles, the narrower the scattering lobe; also, round particles tend to be more backscattering than irregularly-shaped ones of similar texture, and the presence of voids within particles tends to increase the backscattering character of the sample. Particles with broad scattering lobes (phase function asymmetry parameter b ⩽ 0.5) display relatively large modeled surface macroscopic roughness values (15–25°), while particles with narrow scattering lobes (b ⩾ 0.5) show smaller modeled surface macroscopic roughness (between 15° and ∼3°).The comparison between the present results for the scattering parameters b and c, and those obtained in previous studies from artificial particles shows a similar trend and general agreement although some discrepancies were observed. The granular surface samples analyzed in the present study that contain a high proportion of isolated translucent monocrystals and/or fresh glass appear extremely forward-scattering and clearly chart a new part of the c vs. b trend. This is further supported by recent similar findings for martian in situ data and lunar regolith simulants. These results should help to better interpret present and future orbital and landed photometric data from bodies’ surfaces such as the Moon’s, Mars’, Vesta’s or Mercury’s regolith.

► Photometric measurements are produced on natural granular surface samples.
► We assess the application of Hapke’s model on granular surface samples.
► Hapke’s parameters can be derived from a limited set of photometric observations.
► Photometric variability of natural volcanic samples is studied.