Project #2002-111 IDEAS Phase 1

Instrument Development and Education in Airborne Science

J. Stith, et al.

NSF/NCAR C-130Q Hercules (N130AR)

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MCR and Digital Camera

MCR

The MCR ran continuously for the duration of the flight. Data was collected for channels 1 (0.64 µm), 4 (1.06 µm) and 5 (1.64 µm). Evidence of vegetation (green) can be seen in the sample MCR image, which was recorded shortly after takeoff. This is encouraging, as we want to demonstrate the utility of the MCR and AIMR for characterizing vegetation cover. The plane is flying left to right in the image, and the approximate swath (cross-track) is 4 km. The MCR data in this image is raw (voltages).

Digital camera

The digital camera acquired 45 pictures during the flight. The picture shown here is half-size and is located near Fraser, CO. The clarity of the digital pics far exceeds that of our regular downward-looking video camera (a quantified improvement in resolution is forthcoming), so the pictures will be very helpful in determining what features are contributing to the MCR and AIMR images.