EPSS Colloquium fall-2015

We present evidence that the hydrogen deposits near the lunar poles are primarily off-polar and antipodal to each other. Using models of thermal stability of water ice, we find this is suggestive of the lunar pole having migrated from its current spin axis by >5.5 deg. The direction and magnitude of this inferred "True Polar Wander" are shown to correspond with a theoretical thermal anomaly below the Procellarum KREEP Terrain. In this sense, we believe the polar volatiles serve as a record of lunar interior evolution.