Analysis of spectrometric optical data from different devices

Abstract

Remote sensing is a general tool to investigate the different areas of Earth and planets. The development of the implementation capabilities of the optoelectronic devices which are long-term-tested in the laboratory, in the field and are mounted on-board of the remote sensing platforms further improves the capability of instruments to acquire information about the Earth and its resources in different scales. Remote sensing application in the Earth observation begins with the design and the assembling of equipment for carrying out research of the monitored objects remotely and without disturbing their integrity. Ground-truth data in the Earth observation of the environment and in the remote sensing investigations are very important. Remote sensing methods for studying of rocks and minerals are closely related to current programs for the mineral and chemical composition study of the Earth, Mars and Phobos surfaces. The experience and the knowledge from previous experiments in space missions encourage us to continue our efforts to acquire spectral data using different remote sensing systems and to compare the obtained results. The main goal in the geological remote sensing is the determination of the chemical and/or mineral composition and the structure of the rocks. For this purpose the laboratory and the field spectroscopy measurements are performed. These measurements are made to collect, compile and complete guide with spectral characteristics of different rocks for their reliable identification and for the determination of their mineral and chemical composition. The experiments are based on major physical principles such as light scattering, absorption of light, and reflection of light in the electromagnetic spectrum. For the purpose of present paper ex-situ spectroscopy measurements of the granites and their rock-forming minerals from the territory of Bulgaria in visible and near infrared (VNIR) range of the electromagnetic spectrum were performed using following spectrometric systems: SRM, 0.4-0.82 micrometers; SPS-1, 0.55-1.1 micrometers, Thematically Oriented Multi-channel Spectrometer /TOMS/, 0.4-0.9 micrometers, all of them designed and constructed in Remote Sensing Systems /RSS/ Department at SRTI-BAS. The obtained spectral data are compared with similar data from different instruments for Earth observation included in the spectral libraries. They correspond to the shape of the spectral signature in the same spectral range obtained with other spectrometers. Two wavelengths were selected and were applied for the proper comparison between the data obtained by different instruments. The dependence between the reflectance values at the chosen wavelengths and the quantitative content of the rock-forming minerals was established. The achieved results proved that this methodology could be applied for comparing the spectral data from different sources. These promising results encourage us to plan the next campaigns for the field spectroscopy measurements in different regions of Bulgaria.