An airborne sunphotometer for use with helicopters
- USDA-ARS Remote Sensing and Modeling Lab., Beltsville, MD (United States)
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- SSAI, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD (United States). Goddard Space Flight Center
One solution for atmospheric correction and calibration of remotely sensed data from airborne platforms is the use of radiometrically calibrated instruments, sunphotometers and an atmospheric radiative transfer model. Sunphotometers are used to measure the direct solar irradiance at the level at which they are operating and the data are used in the computation of atmospheric optical depth. Atmospheric optical depth is an input to atmospheric correction algorithms that convert at-sensor radiance to required surface properties such as reflectance and temperature. Airborne sun photometry has thus far seen limited use and has not been used with a helicopter platform. The hardware, software, calibration and deployment of an automatic sun-tracking sunphotometer specifically designed for use on a helicopter are described. Sample data sets taken with the system during the 1994 Boreal Ecosystem and Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) are presented. The addition of the sun photometer to the helicopter system adds another tool for monitoring the environment and makes the helicopter remote sensing system capable of collecting calibrated, atmospherically corrected data independent of the need for measurements from other systems.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 244656
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-63020; CONF-960613-3; ON: DE96010692; TRN: AHC29613%%131
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. international airborne remote sensing conference and exhibition, San Francisco, CA (United States), 24-27 Jun 1996; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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