Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-lvwk9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T12:22:32.959Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dissipation in the Moon: A Review of the Experimental Evidence and Physical Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

R. W. King
R. W. King*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139U.S.A.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent analyses of lunar ranging observations have revealed strong evidence of dissipation in the moon’s rotation (Ferrari et al. 1980; Cappallo et al. 1981). If interpreted as solid body friction, these results imply a tidal Q of about 25 (±5) at a frequency of one cycle per month. There is little evidence from other studies of the interior structure of the moon to support such a low solid-body Q. Yoder (1981) finds that turbulent fluid friction between the mantle and a core of radius ~300 km is a plausible mechanism to explain the observed dissipation. An iron or iron-sulfide core of this size is consistent with moment-of-inertia (Blackshear and Gapcynski 1977, Ferrari et al. 1980) and seismic (Goins et al. 1979) data, and is not excluded by conductivity data (Goldstein 1979). Stevenson and Yoder (1980) have proposed a model for formation of a solid iron inner core surrounded by a fluid iron sulfide layer of thickness 65 − 180 km.

Type
Part III
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 63: High-Precision Earth Rotation and Earth-Moon Dynamics , May 1981 , pp. 191 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1982

References

Blackshear, W. T. and Gapcynski, J. P.: 1977, J. Geophys. Res., 82, pp. 1699–1701.Google Scholar
Calame, O.: 1977, “Free Librations of the Moon from Lunar Laser Ranging,” in Scientific Applications of Lunar Laser Ranging, Ed. Mulholland, J. D., Reidel, D., Dordrecht, pp. 53–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calame, O. and Mulholland, J. D.: 1978, Science, 199, pp. 875–877.Google Scholar
Cappallo, R. J., Counselman, C. C, III, King, R.W., and Shapiro, I. I.: 1981, J. Geophys. Res., “Tidal Dissipation in the Moon,”in press.Google Scholar
Cappallo, R. J., King, R. W., Counselman, C. C., Ill, and Shapiro, I. I.: 1982, Celestial Mechanics, “Evidence for Lunar Librations Near Resonance” (abstract), 26, 145.Google Scholar
Eckhardt, D. H.: 1970, The Moon, 1, pp. 264–275.Google Scholar
Eckhardt, D. H.: 1982, Celestial Mechanics, “Theory of the Libration of the Moon,” in press.Google Scholar
Ferrari, A. J., Sinclair, W. S., Sjogren, W. L., Williams, J. G., and Yoder, C. F.: 1980, J. Geophys. Res., 85, pp. 3939–3951.Google Scholar
Goins, N. R., Toksöz, M. N., and Dainty, A. M.: 1978, Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 9th, pp. 3575–3588.Google Scholar
Goldstein, B. E.: 1979, Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 10th, pp. 2357–2373.Google Scholar
Peale, S. J.: 1975, J. Geophys. Res., 80, pp. 4939–4946.Google Scholar
Peale, S. J.: 1976, J. Geophys. Res., 81, pp. 1813–1827.Google Scholar
Stevenson, D. J. and Yoder, C. F.: 1981, Lunar and Planet. Sci. XII (Abstracts), pp. 1043–1044.Google Scholar
Yoder, C. F.: 1981, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London), “The Free Librations of a Dissipative Moon,” in press.Google Scholar