NERC Airborne Research and Survey Facility (ARSF) Remote Sensing Data

The Airborne Research & Survey Facility (ARSF, formerly Airborne Remote Sensing Facility) is managed by NERC Scientific Services and Programme Management. It provides the UK environmental science community, and other potential users, with the means to obtain remotely-sensed data in the form of synoptic analogue and digital imagery for use in research, survey and monitoring programmes. Data offered by the facility includes:

1) Aerial photography data collected with an analogue camera, the Wild RC-10 visible NIR, in conjunction with CASI and ATM instruments.

2) Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM): ARSF has flown two ATM instruments over the period 1982 - 2008: the Daedalus 1268 was operated from 1982 until 1998. Since 1996 and until 2008 an upgraded version - the Azimuth Systems AZ-16 was used, along with an improved data acquisition system.

3) LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data from an Optech ALTM 3033 instrument. The sensor is on loan to the ARSF only for some periods of the year from the Unit of Landscape Modelling (ULM) at Cambridge University.

4) High spectral and spatial resolution data from the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI 2). The CASI 2, produced by Itres Research of Canada, is a two-dimensional CCD array-based pushbroom imaging spectrograph operated by ARSF until 2007

5) High spectral and spatial resolution data from the AISA Eagle and Hawk hyperspectral sensors (since 2007). The AISA Eagle is a 12 bit, pushbroom, hyperspectral sensor with a 1000 pixel swath width, covering the visible and near infra-red spectrum 400 - 970nm. The AISA Hawk is a 14 bit sensor able to capture short wave infrared wavelengths, 970 - 2450nm.

The ARSF currently uses a Dornier 228 aircraft. This extensively modified aircraft is not only capable of accommodating the current ARSF core instrumentation, as well as additional experimental optical and geophysical sensors, but is also configured to deploy a range of atmospheric instrumentation and samplers. Such a comprehensive data service cannot be easily achieved by other survey techniques. The operational flying season generally spans from early March until early October. Three elements determine this period: weather, solar zenith angle and vegetation state; maintenance on the aircraft; sensor maintenance as this is performed by the manufacturers between November and January. Every day during this season, the ARSF has to make difficult decisions on whether or not to attempt flying based on weather forecasts, and to prioritise the most important projects based on many parameters. Flying schedule is available from the ARSF website.

The NEODC holds the entire archive of Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) and Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) data acquired by the NERC ARSF. High-resolution scanned digital versions of the entire collection of analogue photographs are now also available as well as selected LiDAR-derived elevation and terrain models for selected sites flown using the sensor.

航空研究与服务设施（ARSF，原名航空遥感设施）由NERC科学服务与项目管理机构负责管理。该设施为英国环境科学界及其他潜在用户提供了获取遥感数据的途径，这些数据以综合模拟和数字图像的形式呈现，可供研究、调查和监测项目使用。该设施提供的数据包括：

1) 使用模拟相机Wild RC-10可见光近红外相机，与CASI和ATM仪器联合收集的航空摄影数据。

2) 航空专题制图仪（ATM）：ARSF在1982年至2008年期间飞行了两种ATM仪器：Daedalus 1268在1982年至1998年间运行。自1996年起至2008年，使用升级版的Azimuth Systems AZ-16，并配备改进的数据采集系统。

3) 来自Optech ALTM 3033仪器的激光雷达（LiDAR）数据。该传感器仅在一年的某些时期从剑桥大学的景观建模单元（ULM）借给ARSF使用。

4) 来自紧凑型航空光谱成像仪（CASI 2）的高光谱和空间分辨率数据。CASI 2由加拿大Itres Research公司生产，是一种基于二维CCD阵列的二维扫描成像光谱仪，由ARSF运营至2007年。

5) 来自AISA Eagle和Hawk高光谱传感器的光谱和空间分辨率数据（自2007年起）。AISA Eagle是一款12位、扫描式高光谱传感器，具有1000像素的扫描宽度，覆盖可见光和近红外光谱400-970nm。AISA Hawk是一款14位传感器，能够捕捉短波红外波长，970-2450nm。

ARSF目前使用的是Dornier 228飞机。这架经过广泛改装的飞机不仅能够容纳ARSF的核心仪器，以及额外的实验光学和地球物理传感器，还配置了多种大气仪器和采样器。这样的综合数据服务其他调查技术难以轻易实现。运营飞行季节通常从三月初持续至十月初。此期间的三个要素决定了这一时期：天气、太阳天顶角和植被状态；飞机的维护；传感器的维护，因为这是制造商在十一月至一月期间进行的。在此季节的每一天，ARSF都必须根据天气预报做出是否尝试飞行的艰难决定，并根据许多参数优先考虑最重要的项目。飞行日程可在ARSF网站上查阅。

NEODC保存了NERC ARSF获取的所有航空专题制图仪（ATM）和紧凑型航空光谱成像仪（CASI）数据的完整档案。整个模拟照片收藏的高分辨率扫描数字版本现在也可供使用，以及选定地点使用该传感器获取的选定LiDAR生成的海拔和地形模型。