The NASA Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) is being undertaken to measure the mineral compositions of the arid land dust source regions of the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS). Global comprehensive measurements of the composition of the Earth's dust source regions are not currently available. This knowledge gap is limiting avenues of mineral dust research in the Earth system. The EMIT mission will use imaging spectroscopy spanning the visible to short wavelength infrared (VSWIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum to record and analyze the distinct spectral signatures of a set of designated dust source minerals. EMIT measurements of the Earth's dust source regions are planned to be acquired from the ISS in the 2021-22 time frame. These new measurements and related data products will be validated and used to update the initialization of state-of-the-art Earth System Models. With improved initialization, these models will be used by the EMIT team to investigate the radiative forcing impacts of mineral dust aerosols in the Earth system. Both current impacts and impacts under future climate scenarios will be assessed. This paper describes the status of the EMIT development and the details of the measurements, algorithms, and data products that are planned. EMIT data products will be delivered to NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center archive and made available to the full science community for the range of additional investigations that they enable.