REMOTE-SENSING - A DISTANT VIEW OF CHEMISTRY

The Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) flew aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations C-130 plane between 1983 and 1987, functioning as a geochemical imager. AIS begat the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), which is beginning to gather data from a super-high-flying ER-2 plane. The third-generation images - High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS) and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) - will embody lessons learned from their instrumental precursors. They are slated to scan the planet in the mid-1990s from a space platform as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS). Remote sensing using imaging spectrometers could help develop a global perspective on the distribution of materials in the oceans, lands, animals, plants, and skies.