Goossens, SanderMora, Álvaro FernándezHeijkoop, EduardSabaka, Terence J.2021-11-052021-11-052021-10-09Goossens, Sander et al.; Patched Local Lunar Gravity Solutions Using GRAIL Data; Earth and Space Science, 8, 11, 9 October, 2021; https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001695https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001695http://hdl.handle.net/11603/23239We present a method to determine local gravity fields for the Moon using Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) data. We express gravity as gridded gravity anomalies on a sphere, and we estimate adjustments to a background global start model expressed in spherical harmonics. We processed GRAIL Ka-band range-rate data with a short-arc approach, using only data over the area of interest. We determine our gravity solutions using neighbor smoothing constraints. We divided the entire Moon into 12 regions and 2 polar caps, with a resolution of urn:x-wiley:23335084:media:ess2987:ess2987-math-0001 (which is equivalent to degree and order 1199 in spherical harmonics), and determined the optimal smoothing parameter for each area by comparing localized correlations between gravity and topography for each solution set. Our selected areas share nodes with surrounding areas and they are overlapping. To mitigate boundary effects, we patch the solutions together by symmetrically omitting the boundary parts of overlapping solutions. Our new solution has been iterated, and it has improved correlations with topography when compared to a fully iterated global model. Our method requires fewer resources, and can easily handle regionally varying resolution or constraints. The smooth model describes small-scale features clearly, and can be used in local studies of the structure of the lunar crust.27 pagesen-USThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.Public Domain Mark 1.0This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.Text