Above:
AVIRIS-NG undergoing final alignment in the laboratory with the telescope, spectrometer, detector array, and onboard calibration mechanisms fully integrated.
AVIRIS-NG
Beyond the Dreams of AVIRIS
Robert Green
The National Academies’ report of the Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space (released January 2018 and available at:
http://www.nas.edu/esas2017
) identified Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) as a designated observable. The SBG will enable a better understanding of alterations to surface characteristics. These include but are not limited to landslides, earthquakes, eruptions, and the implications for relevance such as risk management and resource management. In addition, we will be assessing the evolving characteristics of health of terrestrial vegetation and aquatic ecosystems.
This is important for understanding vital consequences as crop yields, carbon update and biodiversity. In examining movement of land and ice surfaces, this will help determine, in the case of ice, the likelihood of rapid ice loss and accelerated rates of sea-level rise. Another case would be land, changes in strain rates which impact and provide crucial insights into earthquakes, landslides and tectonic plate deformation. These applications will further contribute to managing agriculture and natural habitats, water use, water quality, and urban development as well as understanding and predicting geological natural hazards and interactions with weather and climate. Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG). AVIRIS-NG was developed to provide continued access to high signal-to-noise ratio imaging spectroscopy measurements in the solar reflected spectral range.
AVIRIS-NG was deployed to Dübendorf Air Base in Switzerland on a King Air B200 Aircraft from June 18 to July 15, 2018. This aircraft flew a total of 86 flight hours over 24 study sites in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The science investigations for this campaign worked to support advanced ecosystem science, Sentinel 3B Calibration and Validation, ESA FLEX mission preparation and early mission performance analysis for the future Sentinel concept: Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME).
All spectroscopic measurements have been calibrated, atmospherically corrected and delivered to Europe. They are also available from the AVIRIS science data subsystem. This agreement between NASA and UZH allows for future European campaigns in 2019-2022 to support NASA, ESA and other new science and applications research.
AVIRIS-NG is expected to replace the
AVIRIS-Classic
instrument that has been flying since 1986. In the future, a high altitude platform is expected to be available. AVIRIS-NG has better than 95% cross-track spectral uniformity and >= 95% spectral IFOV uniformity.
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