A miniaturized UV/VIS/IR hyperspectral radiometer for autonomous airborne and underwater imaging spectroscopy of coastal and oceanic environments

Remote sensing of optical properties of oceans and coastal waters provides essential information for various scientific questions and applications, including monitoring biological biomass and productivity, biogeochemical cycling of carbon, pollution, and ecosystem health. OKSI, with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), propose the development of novel instrumentation package that will measure in both airborne and submersible applications the upwelling and downwelling radiative fluxes in the UV-VIS-NIR range with high spectral resolution. In Phase I science requirements will be defined and translated into engineering requirements, and the design of an existing hyperspectral sensor modified to (1) simultaneously measure both the upwelling (in pushbroom imaging mode) and the downwelling (non-imaging) spectra, and (2) extend the spectral range to the UV. In Phase-II the prototype instruments will be built and flown on a SIO Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and tested in an SIO submersible system. Ocean color satellite data currently provides information at low spectral resolution (several discrete wavebands) and relatively low spatial resolution (~1 km). The proposed instrumentation package will fill a major gap in science capabilities by providing hyperspectral data with sufficiently high spatial resolution necessary for improved retrievals of information about in-water constituents/properties in highly dynamic coastal environments. The project outcome at the end of Phase-II will be at TRL 6.

The importance of the oceans and coastal waters to the planet's ecosystem and food resources will require increasing level of global and local monitoring and control of such resources (by governments and international agencies). The instrumentation package proposed herein has applications in maritime operations, fisheries management, water quality monitoring, littoral and coastal zone management. With its ability to measure upwelling spectral imaging (in pushbroom mode) as well as downwelling spectral radiative fluxes, this sensor will address a major gap in today's sensors by providing the data required for improved algorithms to estimate in-water constituents/properties, spatial resolution and atmospheric properties for accurate atmospheric corrections. Hence this instrument has a broad appeal to the science community as a whole, and to monitoring agencies.

NASA has a major role in the study of global climate change and its impact on natural environments such as oceanic biogeochemical cycling, coral-reef and sea-grass health. The world's oceans play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the planet's ecosystems and serve as a valuable current and future food source for humankind. The oceans provide the only means of subsistence for many communities around the world, particularly the expanding coastal populations. The instrumentation package will be marketed to investigators in the government and academia that are involved in the study of oceans, coastal regions, and littoral regions of the globe.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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