Airborne hyperspectral data collection with the UMBC VNIR sensor

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) airborne Visible-Near Infrared (VNIR) hyperspectral sensor is a grating spectrometer that collects data in the 380 to 985 nm spectral range with spectral resolution as high as 1.15 nm. This imager is a push-broom type sensor utilizing a two dimensional charge coupled device (CCD, 480×640) camera to collect the spectral information along a single line on the ground perpendicular to the aircraft flight line. The UMBC sensor can provide measurements for a variety of studies, including land development and land use, cultivated and natural vegetation and forestry, and water turbidity and coastal environments. Due to the sensor's wealth of spectral bands, high signal-to-noise, and narrow band widths, a number of atmospheric constituents can be also detected that can be incorporated into atmospheric correction models to benefit the retrievals of surface properties. We present a detailed description of the sensor as well as preliminary results of its calibration in this paper. Related on-going research and some potential applications of this sensor are summarized.