First Results From The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

After engineering flights aboard the NASA U-2 research aircraft in the winter of 1986-87 and spring of 1987, extensive data collection across the United States was begun with the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) in the summer of 1987 in support of a NASA data evaluation and technology assessment program. This paper presents some of the first results obtained from AVIRIS. Examples of spectral imagery acquired over Mountain View and Mono Lake, California, and the Cuprite Mining District in western Nevada are presented. Sensor performance and data quality are discussed, and in the final section of the paper, plans for the future are described.