Validation airborne visible-infrared imaging spectrometer data at Ray Mine, Arizona

Abstract

Abstract The fundamental promise of imaging spectroscopy is to provide surface mineralogy based on remotely-acquired, gridded reflectance spectra of comparable quality to those from high resolution laboratory and field spectrometers. For regulatory and environmental monitoring, validating imaging spectrometer data is a major issue with this emerging technology. In this paper we validate 1997 Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) reflectance spectra covering 0.4 mu m-2.4 mu m at a stable, flat, manmade target at Ray Mine, Arizona, for EPA/NASA assessment of the utility of remote sensing for monitoring acid drainage from an active open pit copper mine. For validation, we a) compare qualitatively, laboratory and field reflectance spectra with corresponding AVIRIS spectra; b) compare quantitatively, mineralogically diagnostic statistics from field spectra with the same statistics from field spectra with the same statistics from AVIRIS spectra; and c) demonstrate a methodology for validating imaging spectrometer data for environmental applications.