Abstract
A possible application of hyperspectral remote sensing regards the assessment of light pollution due to cities and industries. In this paper we introduce the results from a remote sensing campaign performed in September 2001 at night time. For the first time nocturnal light pollution was measured at high spatial and spectral resolution us- ing two airborne hyperspectral sensors, namely the Multispectral Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer (MIVIS) and the Visible InfraRed Scanner (VIRS-200). These imagers, generally employed for day-time Earth remote sensing, were flown over the Tuscany coast (Italy) on board of a Casa 212/200 airplane from an altitude of 1.5-2.0 km. We describe the experimental activities which preceded the remote sensing campaign, the opti- mization of sensor configuration, and the images as far acquired. The obtained results point out the novelty of the performed measurements and highlight the need to employ advanced remote sensing techniques as a spec- troscopic tool for light pollution monitoring.
Highlights
Light pollution, a problem that affects almost any urban areas, is produced by a large number of lighting sources, which spill light into the sky
After the digital Operational Line Scan (OLS) instruments began their services on board of the NOAA-Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), the remote assessment of light pollution gained new possibilities, complementing the information derived from groundbased measurements (Isobe, 1998; Isobe and Kosai, 1998; Isobe and Hamamura, 1998; Walker, 1973)
This is the problem with using Multispectral Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer (MIVIS) data for this end, a problem that does not affect VIRS acquisitions that are performed with the finer spectral resolution of 2.5 nm
Summary
A problem that affects almost any urban areas, is produced by a large number of lighting sources, which spill light into the sky. After the digital Operational Line Scan (OLS) instruments began their services on board of the NOAA-Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), the remote assessment of light pollution gained new possibilities, complementing the information derived from groundbased measurements (Isobe, 1998; Isobe and Kosai, 1998; Isobe and Hamamura, 1998; Walker, 1973). OLS – Oscillating Scan Radiometer Photo Multiplier Tube (PMT) NOAA-DMSP, sun-synchronous polar orbit 830 km, 101 min 0.41-0.99 nm 10.0-13.4 nm 2.8 km at nadir (on-board averaging of 5×5 blocks at 0.56 km) 3000 km 10–9 W cm–2 sr–1 nm–1 trum of the observed source, and this circumstance originates additional difficulties for modeling atmospheric effects.
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