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Completed TRL 5 (started at 5, targeting 6)
This project aims to prepare a key component of a multi-sensor airborne system that can be used by the snow remote sensing community to collect snow datasets and enable future snow missions.
The international snow community believes a multi-sensor approach to snow remote sensing offers the best hope for accurate snow retrievals. However, the community does not have multi-sensor datasets to use to develop retrieval algorithms. A multi-sensor airborne snow suite used in a community airborne field campaign would be able to collect such datasets. This project will focus on preparing a key element of that sensor suite: a passive microwave imager operating at several wavelengths sensitive to snow. The goal of this project is to make ready NASA’s Airborne Earth Science Microwave Imaging Radiometer (AESMIR) for snow observations.
The Snow and Cold Land Processes (SCLP) mission was identified in the first Earth Science Decadal Survey as a mission that NASA should pursue. A multi-sensor mission concept requires risk reduction for each sensor type as well as among the various sensors. This project will provide a working copy of the passive microwave sensor for risk reduction activities including testing calibration techniques and science algorithm development.
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