ADDING HYPERSPECTRAL TO CHARTS : EARLY RESULTS

The integration of a passive spectral imager into CHARTS provides the ability to conduct 3D benthic habitat mapping and 3D coastal landcover mapping from a single platform. For the underwater mapping case, the depth, attenuation, and reflectance data calculated from the bathymetric laser waveforms provide strong constraints on the inversion of the passive radiative transfer model. This constrained inversion facilitates the estimation of passive spectral reflectance on the seafloor and spectral diffuse attenuation coefficients of the water column. In this paper, we show preliminary results using software developed for these purposes and data collected simultaneously with a SHOALS-1000 bathymeter and casi-2 spectrometer over the South Florida Ocean Testing Center.