The hyperspectral thermal emission spectrometer (HyTES) participated in NASA’s HyspIRI Volcano and Coral Reef Airborne Campaign. The goal was to generate important science and application research results that uniquely enabled HyspIRI-like data while taking advantage of the contiguous spectroscopic measurements. HyTES was one of 4 sensors onboard a high altitude ER-2 aircraft. Other sensors included the Portable Remote Imaging SpectroMeter (PRISM), AVIRIS-classic, and MODIS/ASTER (MASTER). The flight lines gave us numerous opportunities to image the active Kilauea volcano (including Kona wind conditions) as well as urban coastlines. In preparation for the campaign, a calibration was performed to confirm the saturation temperature of HyTES as well as its sensitivity to applicable gas detection: sulfur dioxide (SO2), Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and the Hydrogen halides. The HyTES sensor resides in a super pod on the wing and experiences near zero atmosphere Engineering challenges were overcome to keep the sensor calibrated during flight.
|