Unsupervised clustering analysis of spectral data for the Rudaki area on Mercury

Abstract

We present a study of spectral reflectance on Mercury focused on an area that encompasses the craters Kuiper, Rudaki, and Waters. The goal is to analyze possible connections among different terrain types. The study region is geologically and spectrally classified as heavily cratered intermediate terrain (IT) and mixed patches of high-reflectance red plains (HRP) and intermediate plains (IP), on the basis of multispectral images taken by the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). Recent analysis of observations by the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft with an unsupervised hierarchical clustering method shows at global scales a comparable number of units. Analyses on the local scale reveal a larger number of units and with a substantially more complex relationship among units.