Constructing a Higher Resolution Map of Lunar Magnetic Fields from the Lunar Prospector Mission

The origin of lunar crustal magnetism remains one of the biggest puzzles in lunar science. Between January 11, 1998 and July 31, 1999, the Lunar Prospector (LP) spacecraft made global-scale measurements of the magnetic field down to 16 km altitude above ground level (AGL). The final published data were downsampled to a measurement cadence of 0.2 Hz from their original transmitted cadence of 9 Hz. While the 0.2 Hz resolution data are sufficient for many purposes, some scientific investigations would benefit from a higher resolution dataset. For example, at the lowest altitudes of 16 km AGL, the spacecraft samples the field at exactly the Nyquist rate (every 8 km), assuming the horizontal field structure changes at the same rate as its vertical structure. Of course, this assumption is not exactly correct, and the Nyquist rate is the bare minimum required to resolve changes at that frequency. Therefore, doubling the measurement resolution could improve our ability to observe details in field structure, such as in proposed magnetic cusp regions where solar wind is being channeled to the surface. These measurements would also improve the quality of inversions for magnetized source body characteristics, especially for small anomalies with only a few orbit passes at low altitudes. Using the level 0 data, our aim is to reanalyze the raw magnetometer measurements and generate a science-grade dataset with 2-3 times the resolution of published products (level 1 and level 2 data). We will first present our results at the Reiner Gamma "swirl", a high albedo feature located in Oceanus Procellarum.