IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2016 - 34

Altitude (km)

5
-1 0
00
-5
0

-1

-2

-3

-2

HDO Concentration (permil)
50

-3

tions:

a
bserv
TES O

. 200
06 Jan

2
0
60

CU Boulder

JPL

20
Latitude

Equator
-40

-60

300

240

260

320

280
Longitude

Tuolumne River Basin in California and monthly flights over the
Uncompahgre River Basin in Colorado during the snow-melt season.
These basins are the primary water
supply for millions of Americans in
the western United States. Should
the demonstration prove successful,
such data could help improve water
management for 1.5 billion people
worldwide who rely on snow melt for
their water supply.
The observatory comprises an
imaging spectrometer to measure
snow albedo and properties and a
scanning LiDAR to measure changes
in snow depth. ASO is a collaboration
between NASA's JPL and the California
Department of Water Resources [44].

AiRboRne viSible/infRARed
imAging SpectRometeR
water (also known as deuterium) to trace the history of the water vapor, which normally contains
The
Airborne Visible/Infrared Imag.03% HDO. This transect demonstrates that there is less isotope depletion (i.e., more red) over
ing
Spectrometer
(AVIRIS) delivers
the ocean because these regions are close to the water vapor source, while there is more global
calibrated
images
of the upwelling
isotope depletion (i.e., more blue and purple) in the higher altitudes and higher latitudes due to
spectral
radiance
in
224 contiguous
the preferential loss of heavy isotopes (HDO) during precipitation. See [25] for publications related
spectral
channels
(i.e.,
bands) with
to TES observations. (Figure courtesy of JPL.)
wavelengths from 380 to 2,510 nm.
AVIRIS has been flown on four aircraft platforms, includdefined science experiments for research such as atmospheric
ing NASA's high-altitude ER-2 jet, Twin Otter International's
chemistry and volcanology best suited to airborne flight charturboprop, Scaled Composites' Proteus, and NASA's WB-57.
acteristics (e.g., proximity performance or rapid repeat meaAVIRIS has explored North and South America including
surements) to instrument development and validation for
Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, Brazil, and Argentina. AVIRIS supNASA's Earth science satellites described previously.
ports a wide range of NASA science and applications research,
NASA's airborne systems include, but are not limited to,
using imaging spectroscopy to detect, identify, measure, and
inflatable devices, both tethered and untethered (i.e, balmonitor constituents and processes of the Earth's surface
loons and blimps); manned aircraft that range from small
and atmosphere based on measured constituent absorption
propeller craft (e.g., Cessna) to large jet engine craft (e.g.,
and scattering signatures [45], [46].
DC8); as well as unmanned aircraft that range in size from
small model airplanes to large military surveillance class
AiRboRne viSible-infRARed imAging
craft (e.g., Global Hawk). JPL takes advantage of a number
SpectRometeR-next geneRAtion
of these assets.
The AVIRIS-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) has been
These craft and the installed instruments provide measuredeveloped to provide continued access to high signal-toment information from altitudes that range from 60,000 ft to
noise ratio imaging spectroscopy measurements in the
fewer than 100 ft above the Earth's surface. The airborne prosolar reflected spectral range. AVIRIS-NG is expected
gram supports dozens of instrument development efforts. Listed
to replace the AVIRIS instrument that has been flying
in Table 1 are those that are operational in some sense and are prosince 1986.
viding science data to the community on a regular basis. A comAVIRIS-NG measures the wavelength range from 380 nm
prehensive list of instruments, missions, and campaigns can be
to 2,510 nm with 5-nm sampling. Spectra are measured as
found at the JPL's Earth Science Airborne Program website [43].
images with 600 cross-track elements and spatial sampling
from 0.3 m to 4.0 m from a Twin Otter platform. In the future,
AiRboRne Snow obSeRvAtoRy
a high-altitude platform is expected to be available [47].
The Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) is designed to
collect data on the snow melt flowing out of major water
poRtAble Remote imAging SpectRometeR
basins in the western United States. The mission began a
The Portable Remote Imaging SpectroMeter (PRISM) is
three-year demonstration in April 2013, flying aboard
an imaging spectrometer optimized for the spectral range
a Twin Otter aircraft that makes weekly flights over the
FIGURe 9. TES uses the spectrum of the water isotope hydrogen-deuterium oxide (HDO) or heavy

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