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At least 703 records · Page 39

Reflectance spectra from eutrophic Mono Lake California, measured with the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

An AVIRIS image was obtained for Mono Lake, California, on May 26, 1989, a day with excellent visibility. Atmospherically-corrected reflectance spectra derived from the image indicate a spectral signature for chlorophyll a, the dominant photosynthetic pigment in the phytoplankton of the lake. Chlorophyll a concentrations in the lake were about 22 mg/cu m, and the upwelling radiance was low with a peak reflectance at about 570 nm of about 5 percent. Coherent noise appeared in the image as regular variations of 0.1 to 0.2 microwatts/sq cm per str oriented diagonally to the flight line. A simple ratio of two spectral bands removed the conspicuous undulations, but modifications of the shielding within the instrument are needed to improve the signal especially over dark targets such as lakes.

Melack, John M.↗

Motions in Prominence Barbs Observed on the Solar Limb

We analyze and discuss an example of prominence barbs observed on the limb on 2016 January 7 by the Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope in Ca II and H alpha, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, with slit jaw images and Mg II spectral data, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. In the recent literature there has been a debate concerning whether these features, sometimes referred to as "tornadoes," are rotating. Our data analysis provides no evidence for systematic rotation in the barbs. We do find line-of-sight motions in the barbs that vary with location and time. We also discuss observations of features moving along the barbs. These moving features are elongated parallel to the solar limb and tend to come in clusters of features moving along the same or similar paths in the plane of the sky during a period of 10 minutes to an hour, moving toward or away from the limb. The motion may have a component along the line of sight as well. The spectral data indicate that the features are Doppler shifted. We discuss possible explanations for these features.

Kucera, T. A.↗

Fossils of Prokaryotic Microorganisms in the Orgueil Meteorite

The Orgueil CII meteorite, which fell in southern France on the evening of May 14, 1864, has been one of the most extensively studied of all known carbonaceous meteorites. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) studies of freshly fractured interior surfaces of the Orgueil meteorite have resulted in the detection of the fossilized remains of a large and diverse population of filamentous prokaryotic microorganisms. The taphonomy and the diverse modes of the preservation of these remains ,are diverse. Some of the remains exhibit carbonization of a hollow sheath and in other cases the remains are permineralized with water-soluble evaporite minerals, such as magnesium sulfate or ammonium salts. After the sample is fractured and the interior surfaces are exposed to the atmospheric moisture, some of these friable remains have been observed to exhibit significant alterations in appearance with time. Images are presented to document the changes that have been observed in some forms within the past two years. Images and EDS spectral data will also be presented to document the studies carried out on abiotic forms to search for possible nonbiological interpretations of the indigenous filamentous microstructures that have been found in the Orgueil meteorite. Images and EDS data will be presented showing the size, size range, morphology and chemical compositions of abiotic microstructures found in native crystalline and fibrous Epsomites from Poison Lake, Washington, USA and Catalayud, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Many of these embedded forms are consistent in size and microstructure with cyanobacteria morphotypes. Some of the forms are exhibit known characteristics differentiation of cells, and reproductive structures of filamentous trichomic prokaryotes (bacteria and cyanobacteria) and the degraded remains of microfibrils associated with sheaths of cyanobacteria. In this paper, recently obtained comparative images and EDS data will be presented for the mineralized remains found in the Orgueil meteorite and these forms will be compared with known cyanobacteria of the family Oscillatoriaceae. Many of the indigenous filamentous microstructures found in Orgueil filaments are dramatically different from the abiotic microstructures found in the fibrous epsomites and these forms are interpreted as the molds, casts and the well preserved permineralized remains (microfossils) of filamentous prokaryotes that are embedded in and indigenous to the matrix of the Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorite.

Hoover, Richard B.↗

Development of hard X-ray optics

Studies of cosmic X-ray sources have suffered from lack of focussing optics in the hard X-ray spectral region (E above 10 keV); in the absence of imaging optics, celestial X-rays are masked by the cosmic ray background, which severely degrades the detector sensitivity. There are several possible ways to develop grazing incidence imaging optics for this spectral region; we describe here one approach which utilizes numerous large diameter silicon wafers to form a flat-plate imaging telescope. A prototype imager of this type has been constructed, and we present measurements of surface quality, coalignment accuracy, and imaging ability.

Joy, Marshall↗

HIRIS, the instrument and its science

The High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS) is a facility instrument slated for flight on the second EOS series AM platforms. HIRIS is designed to acquire 24 km wide, 30 m pixel images in 192 spectral bands simultaneously in the 0.4-2.45 micron wavelength region. With pointing mirrors it can sample any place on Earth, except the poles, every 2 days. HIRIS operates at the intermediate scale between the human and the global and therefore links studies of Earth surface processes to global monitoring carried out by lower resolution instruments. So far, over 50 science data products from HIRIS images have been identified in the fields of atmospheric gases, clouds, snow and ice, water, vegetation, and rocks and soils. The key attribute of imaging spectrometry that makes it possible to derive quantitative information from the data is the large number of contiguous, spectral bands. Therefore, spectrum-matching techniques can be applied. Such techniques are not possible with present-day, multispectral scanner data.

Goetz, Alexander F. H.↗

High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS): Science and Instrument

The High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS) is a facility instrument slated for flight on the second of the EOS-A series of platforms. HIRIS is designed to acquire 24-km wide, 30-m pixel images in 192 spectral bands simultaneously in the 0.4-2.45-micrometer wavelength region. With pointing mirrors it can sample any place on Earth, except the poles, every two days. HIRIS operates at the intermediate scale between the human and the global and therefore links studies of Earth surface processes to global monitoring carried out by lower-resolution instruments. So far, over 50 science data products from HIRIS images have been identified in the fields of atmospheric gases, clouds, snow and ice, water, vegetation, and rocks and soils. The key attribute of imaging spectrometry that makes it possible to derive quantitative information from the data is the large number of contiguous spectral bands. Therefore spectrum matching techniques can be applied. Such techniques are not possible with present-day, multispectral scanner data.

Goetz, Alexander F. H.↗

Possible near-IR channels for remote sensing precipitable water vapor from geostationary satellite platforms

Remote sensing of troposheric water vapor profiles from current geostationary weather satellites is made using a few broadband infrared (IR) channels in the 6-13 micron region. Uncertainties greater than 20% exist in derived water vapor values just above the surface from the IR emission measurements. In this paper, we propose three near-IR channels, one within the 0.94-micron water vapor band absorption region, and the other two in nearby atmospheric windows, for remote sensing of precipitable water vapor over land areas, excluding lakes and rivers, during daytime from future geostationary satellite platforms. The physical principles are as follows. The reflectance of most surface targets varies approximately linearly with wavelength near 1 micron. The solar radiation on the sun-surface-sensor ray path is attenuated by atmospheric water vapor. The ratio of the radiance from the absorption channel with the radiances from the two window channels removes the surface reflectance effects and yields approximately the mean atmospheric water vapor transmittance of the absorption channel. The integrated water vapor amount from ground to space can be obtained with a precision of better than 5% from the mean transmittance. Because surface reflectances vary slowly with time, temporal variation of precipitable water vapor can be determined reliably. High spatial resolution, precipitable water vapor images are derived from spectral data collected by the Airborne Visable-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, which measures solar radiation reflected by the surface in the 0.4-2.5 micron region in 10-nm channels and has a ground instantaneous field of view of 20 m from its platform on an ER-2 aircraft at 20 km. The proposed near-IR reflectance technique would complement the IR emission techniques for remote sensing of water vapor profiles from geostationary satellite platforms, especially in the boundary layer where most of the water vapor is located.

Gao, B.-C.↗

Observations of Fast-Moving Features in the Debris Disk of AU Mic on a Three-Year Timescale: Confirmation and New Discoveries

Context. The nearby and young M star AU Mic is surrounded by a debris disk in which we previously identified a series of large-scale arch-like structures that have never been seen before in any other debris disk and that move outward at high velocities. Aims. We initiated a monitoring program with the following objectives: (1) track the location of the structures and better constrain their projected speeds, (2) search for new features emerging closer in, and ultimately (3) understand the mechanism responsible for the motion and production of the disk features. Methods. AU Mic was observed at 11 different epochs between August 2014 and October 2017 with the IR camera and spectrograph of SPHERE. These high-contrast imaging data were processed with a variety of angular, spectral, and polarimetric differential imaging techniques to reveal the faintest structures in the disk. We measured the projected separations of the features in a systematic way for all epochs. We also applied the very same measurements to older observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with the visible cameras STIS and ACS. Results. The main outcomes of this work are (1) the recovery of the five southeastern broad arch-like structures we identified in our first study, and confirmation of their fast motion (projected speed in the range 4–12 km/s); (2) the confirmation that the very first structures observed in 2004 with ACS are indeed connected to those observed later with STIS and now SPHERE; (3) the discovery of two new very compact structures at the northwest side of the disk (at 0.40′′ and 0.55′′ in May 2015) that move to the southeast at low speed; and (4) the identification of a new arch-like structure that might be emerging at the southeast side at about 0.4′′ from the star (as of May 2016). Conclusions. Although the exquisite sensitivity of SPHERE allows one to follow the evolution not only of the projected separation, but also of the specific morphology of each individual feature, it remains difficult to distinguish between possible dynamical scenarios that may explain the observations. Understanding the exact origin of these features, the way they are generated, and their evolution over time is certainly a significant challenge in the context of planetary system formation around M stars.

Boccaletti, A.↗

Wavelet Filter Banks for Super-Resolution SAR Imaging

This paper discusses Innovative wavelet-based filter banks designed to enhance the analysis of super resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images using parametric spectral methods and signal classification algorithms, SAR finds applications In many of NASA's earth science fields such as deformation, ecosystem structure, and dynamics of Ice, snow and cold land processes, and surface water and ocean topography. Traditionally, standard methods such as Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast-Fourier Transform (IFFT) have been used to extract Images from SAR radar data, Due to non-parametric features of these methods and their resolution limitations and observation time dependence, use of spectral estimation and signal pre- and post-processing techniques based on wavelets to process SAR radar data has been proposed. Multi-resolution wavelet transforms and advanced spectral estimation techniques have proven to offer efficient solutions to this problem.

Sheybani, Ehsan O.↗

Determination of the in-flight spectral and radiometric characteristics of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

AVIRIS is a science research imaging spectrometer that measures radiance in 224 channels between 400 to 2450 nm in the electromagnetic spectrum. To determine the inflight spectral and radiometric characteristics of AVIRIS a validation and calibration experiment was performed. Five data sets were acquired over a calibration site on the homogeneous playa of Rogers Dry Lake, California, U.S. Surface reflectance, atmospheric optical depths, and atmospheric water vapor measurements were acquired concurrently with the overflights. These in situ measurements were used to constrain the LOWTRAN 7 radiative transfer code to predict the total spectral radiance incident at the AVIRIS aperture. These predicted radiances and the AVIRIS measured radiances were analyzed to validate the inflight characteristics. Inflight spectral channel positions and response functions over the AVIRIS spectral range were derived. Radiometric calibration coefficients were calculated for each channel as well as radiometric accuracy, intraflight stability, and noise equivalent delta radiance.

Green, Robert O.↗

Remotely sensed image compression based on wavelet transform

In this paper, we present an image compression algorithm that is capable of significantly reducing the vast amount of information contained in multispectral images. The developed algorithm exploits the spectral and spatial correlations found in multispectral images. The scheme encodes the difference between images after contrast/brightness equalization to remove the spectral redundancy, and utilizes a two-dimensional wavelet transform to remove the spatial redundancy. the transformed images are then encoded by Hilbert-curve scanning and run-length-encoding, followed by Huffman coding. We also present the performance of the proposed algorithm with the LANDSAT MultiSpectral Scanner data. The loss of information is evaluated by PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio) and classification capability.

Kim, Seong W.↗

A plan for the characterization, calibration, and evaluation of LAPR-2

A new airborne Linear Array Pushbroom Radiometer (LAPR-II) was built. LAPR-II will use linear arrays of silicon detectors to acquire four channels of digital image data for spectral bands within the visible and near infrared portions of the spectrum (0.4 - 1.0 micrometers). The data will be quantized to 10 bits, and spectral filters for each channel will be changeable in flight. The instrument will initially be flown aboard a NASA/Wallops' aircraft, and off nadir pointing of LAPR-II will be possible. Together, the instrument and its platform will provide a flexible readily available source of digital image data for scientific experiments. If LAPR-II is to serve as a precise scientific instrument, the instrument's characteristics must be quantitatively described and the data must be calibrated with respect to absolute radiometric units. The LAPR-II is described and the work required to characterize the instrument's spectral response, radiometric response, and spatial resolution and to calibrate the response from the many detectors per array is outlined.

Ilrons, J. R.↗

High-resolution passive microwave imaging of the surface of the Earth

The physics of passive microwave observations of the Earth and the system requirements for high-resolution imaging within this spectral band are summarized. High resolution is achieved in a straightforward manner by increasing the size of the primary antenna. However, with a single receiver, it is shown that the combination of high resolution and crosstrack scanning cannot produce images which have valuable geophysical content. The concept of a multiple receiver array located in the focal plane is presented as the only practical solution to the dilemma. Exploring this concept, system requirements are generated which, for the first order, appear to offer solutions to the problem.

Swift, C. T.↗

Vertical Settling and Radial Segregation of Large Dust Grains in the Circumstellar Disk of the Butterfly Star

Circumstellar disks are considered as the environment for the formation of planets. The growth of dust grains in these disks is the first step in the core accretion-gas capture planet formation scenario. Indicators as well as evidence of disk evolution can be traced in spatially resolved images and the spectral energy distribution (SED) of these objects. Aims. We aim at developing a model for the dust phase of the edge-on orientated circumstellar disk of the Butterfly Star which allows one to fit observed multi-wavelength images as well as the SED simultaneously. Our model is based on spatially resolved high angular resolution observations at 1.3 mm, 894 μm, 2.07 μm, 1.87 μm, 1.60 μm and 1.13 μm as well as an extensively covered SED ranging from 12 μm to 2.7 mm, including a detailed spectrum obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope in the range from 12 μm to 38 μm. A parameter study based on a grid search method, involving the detailed analysis of every parameter, was performed to constrain the disk parameters and find the best-fit model for the independent observations. The individual observations were modeled simultaneously, using our continuum radiative transfer code MC3D. We derived a model that is capable of reproducing all of the observations of the disk at the same time. We find quantitative evidence for grain growth up to ~100 μm sized particles, vertical settling of larger dust grains toward the disk midplane, and radial segregation of the latter toward the central star. Our results are consistent with current theoretical models for the evolution of circumstellar disks and the early stages of planet formation.

Radiative transfer↗

Artificial intelligence for geologic mapping with imaging spectrometers

This project was a three year study at the Center for the Study of Earth from Space (CSES) within the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The goal of this research was to develop an expert system to allow automated identification of geologic materials based on their spectral characteristics in imaging spectrometer data such as the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). This requirement was dictated by the volume of data produced by imaging spectrometers, which prohibits manual analysis. The research described is based on the development of automated techniques for analysis of imaging spectrometer data that emulate the analytical processes used by a human observer. The research tested the feasibility of such an approach, implemented an operational system, and tested the validity of the results for selected imaging spectrometer data sets.

Kruse, F. A.↗

Coherent Detector Arrays for Continuum and Spectral Line Applications

This viewgraph presentation reviews the requirements for improved coherent detector arrays for use in continuum and spectral line applications. With detectors approaching fundamental limits, large arrays offer the only path to sensitivity improvement. Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology offers a straightforward path to massive focal plane millimeter wave arrays: The technology will readily support continuum imagers, polarimeters and spectral line receivers from 30-110 GHz. Science programs, particularly large field blind surveys will benefit from simultaneous observations of hundreds or thousands of pixels 1000 element array is competitive with a cost less than $2M.

instrumentation↗

Evaluation of entropy and JM-distance criterions as features selection methods using spectral and spatial features derived from LANDSAT images

A study area near Ribeirao Preto in Sao Paulo state was selected, with predominance in sugar cane. Eight features were extracted from the 4 original bands of LANDSAT image, using low-pass and high-pass filtering to obtain spatial features. There were 5 training sites in order to acquire the necessary parameters. Two groups of four channels were selected from 12 channels using JM-distance and entropy criterions. The number of selected channels was defined by physical restrictions of the image analyzer and computacional costs. The evaluation was performed by extracting the confusion matrix for training and tests areas, with a maximum likelihood classifier, and by defining performance indexes based on those matrixes for each group of channels. Results show that in spatial features and supervised classification, the entropy criterion is better in the sense that allows a more accurate and generalized definition of class signature. On the other hand, JM-distance criterion strongly reduces the misclassification within training areas.

Parada, N. D. J.↗

Programmable Spectral Source and Design Tool for 3D Imaging Using Complementary Bandpass Filters

An endoscopic illumination system for illuminating a subject for stereoscopic image capture, includes a light source which outputs light; a first complementary multiband bandpass filter (CMBF) and a second CMBF, the first and second CMBFs being situated in first and second light paths, respectively, where the first CMBF and the second CMBF filter the light incident thereupon to output filtered light; and a camera which captures video images of the subject and generates corresponding video information, the camera receiving light reflected from the subject and passing through a pupil CMBF pair and a detection lens. The pupil CMBF includes a first pupil CMBF and a second pupil CMBF, the first pupil CMBF being identical to the first CMBF and the second pupil CMBF being identical to the second CMBF, and the detection lens includes one unpartitioned section that covers both the first pupil CMBF and the second pupil CMBF.

Shahinian, Hrayr Karnig↗