NASA's Coastal and Ocean Airborne Science Testbed

The Coastal and Ocean Airborne Science Testbed (COAST) Project is a NASA Earth-science flight mission that will advance coastal ecosystems research by providing a unique airborne payload optimized for remote sensing in the optically complex coastal zone. Teaming NASA Ames scientists and engineers with Biospherical Instruments, Inc. (San Diego) and UC Santa Cruz, the airborne COAST instrument suite combines a customized imaging spectrometer, sunphotometer system, and a new bio-optical radiometer package to obtain ocean/coastal/atmosphere data simultaneously in flight for the first time. The imaging spectrometer (Headwall) is optimized in the blue region of the spectrum to emphasize remote sensing of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Simultaneous measurements supporting empirical atmospheric correction of image data will be accomplished using the Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14). Based on optical detectors called microradiometers, the NASA Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Calibration and Validation (cal/val) Office team has deployed advanced commercial off-the-shelf instrumentation that provides in situ measurements of the apparent optical properties at the land/ocean boundary including optically shallow aquatic ecosystems (e.g., lakes, estuaries, coral reefs). A complimentary microradiometer instrument package (Biospherical Instruments, Inc.), optimized for use above water, will be flown for the first time with the airborne instrument suite. Details of the October 2011 COAST airborne mission over Monterey Bay demonstrating this new airborne instrument suite capability will be presented, with associated preliminary data on coastal ocean color products, coincident spatial and temporal data on aerosol optical depth and water vapor column content, as well as derived exact water-leaving radiances.