Full Topographic Map of the Moon Released by USGS

Digital versions of the Image Mosaic and Topographic Map of the Moon have been released.

This map is based on data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA; Smith and others, 2010), an instrument on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft (Tooley and others, 2010). The image used for the base of this map represents more than 6.5 billion measurements gathered between July 2009 and July 2013, adjusted for consistency in the coordinate system described below, and then converted to lunar radii (Mazarico and others, 2012). For the Mercator portion, these measurements were converted into a digital elevation model (DEM) with a resolution of 0.015625 degrees per pixel, or 64 pixels per degree. In projection, the pixels are 473.8 m in size at the equator. For the polar portion, the LOLA elevation points were used to create a DEM at 240 meters per pixel. A shaded relief map was generated from each DEM with a sun angle of 45° from horizontal, and a sun azimuth of 270°, as measured clockwise from north with no vertical exaggeration. The DEM values were then mapped to a global color look-up table, with each color representing a range of 1 km of elevation. For this map sheet, only larger feature names are shown. For references listed above, please open the full PDF.

To print your own copy, visit the USGS site.

The maps were made possible by NASA, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team, and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter team. Funding was provided by by NASA’s Planetary Geology and Geophysics Cartography Program.

Further reading on products see:

– Robinson, M.S., Speyerer, E.J., Boyd, A., Waller, D., Wagner, R., and Burns, K., 2012, Exploring the Moon with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera: International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, v. XXXIX-B4, XXII International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Congress, Melbourne, Australia.

– Smith, D.E., Zuber, M.T., Neumann, G.A., Lemoine, F.G., Mazarico, E., Torrence, M.H., McGarry, J.F., Rowlands, D.D., Head, J.W., III, Duxbury, T.H., Aharonson, O., Lucey, P.G., Robinson, M.S., Barnouin, O.S., Cavanaugh, J.F., Sun, X., Liiva, P., Mao, D., Smith, J.C., and Bartels, A.E., 2010, Initial observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA): Geophysical Research Letters, v. 37, no. L18204, doi:10.1029/2010GL043751.

– Neumann, G.A., 2011, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter reduced data record and derived products software interface specification, version 2.42, LRO-L-LOLA-4- GDR-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System (PDS).

– Tooley, C.R., Houghton, M.B., Saylor, R.S., Peddie, C., Everett, D.F., Baker, C.L., and Safdie, K.N., 2010, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and spacecraft design: Space Science Reviews, v. 150, no. 1, p. 23–62, doi:10.1007/s11214-009-9624-4.