Helicopter Source/Platform Document

Summary:

Helicopters have been used in field campaigns such as the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment (FIFE), which was conducted from 1987 to 1989, and in the Superior National Forest (SNF) study, which was conducted from 1983 to 1984.

Table of Contents:

• 1 Source/Platform or Data Collection Environment Overview
• 2 Data Acquisition and Processing
• 3 References
• 4 Glossary of Terms
• 5 List of Acronyms
• 6 Document Information

1. Source/Platform or Data Collection Environment Overview:

Source/Platform or Data Collection Environment Long Name, Source/Platform Acronym:

Helicopter

Source/Platform Introduction:

A helicopter, an aircraft supported in the air by motor-driven rotating horizontal blades, or rotors, is an airborne data-collection platform that provides an intermediate scale of sampling between that of surface measurements and that of higher altitude aircraft and spacecraft.

Mission Objectives:

The mission objective of the helicopter in environmental research is to carry instruments to collect data for site characterization at an intermediate scale.

Parameters:

The NASA Bell UH-1B "Huey" helicopter (NASA 415), which is a utility/general purpose model, has been used for collecting airborne data for site characterization.

The motion of the helicopter cabin beneath the main rotor blades is analogous to a pendulum swinging. The instrument operator can normally wait for this motion to stop or can anticipate the position of the helicopter before triggering the instruments. The helicopter roll, pitch, and yaw are dependent on atmospheric conditions, engine performance, and aircraft crew fatigue. Off-nadir observations are questionable under less-than-optimal atmospheric conditions.

Coverage Information:

The angle of attack of the helicopter varies during flight. The coverage is dependant on the helicopter's elevation, instruments, and project objectives.

List of Sensors/Instruments:

The sensors/instruments used in helicopter-based site characterization studies can include the following: a modular multiband radiometer (MMR); a spectroradiometer and microcomputer system; an eight-band MMR containing bands 1-4 with silicon detectors, bands 5-7 with lead sulfide detectors, and waveband 8 with a litium tantalum trioxide detector; an infrared thermometer with a 4-degree field of view; and a portable battery-operated spectroradiometer.

2. Data Acquisition and Processing:

Specific methods of acquiring and processing data vary from study to study, depending in part upon the instruments that are used.

3. References:

Information is available from the following World Wide Web sites:

First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment (FIFE)
(http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/FIFE/FIFE_Home.html)

Superior National Forest (SNF)
(http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/SNF/summary.html)

Disclaimer: Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

4. Glossary of Terms:

A glossary is available at http://harp.gsfc.nasa.gov/v0ims/glossary.of.terms.html. For additional terms, see http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/cdiac/glossary.html.

5. List of Acronyms:

FIFE

First ISLSCP Field Experiment

ISLSCP

International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ORNL

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

SNF

Superior National Forest

URL

Uniform Resource Locator

A more complete list of acronyms is available at http://harp.gsfc.nasa.gov/v0ims/acronyms.html. For additional terms, see http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/cdiac/pns/acronyms.html.

6. Document Information:

Document Revision Date:

April 21, 1998

Document Review Date:

April 21, 1998

Document ID:

ORNL-source454

Document Curator:

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Document URL:

http://daac.ornl.gov/source_documents/helicopter.html

Revision Date: Thursday, 31-Jul-2008 22:51:38 EDT
URL: http://daac.ornl.gov/source_documents/helicopter.html