MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS)

Overview

OVERVIEW

The MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) is an airborne scanning spectrometer that acquires high spatial resolution imagery of cloud and surface features from its vantage point on-board a NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft.

Data acquired by the MAS are helping to define, develop, test, and refine algorithms for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), a key sensor of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The MODIS program emphasizes the use of remotely sensed data to monitor variation in environmental conditions for assessing global climate change.

The MAS instrument is maintained and operated by the Airborne Science & Technology Laboratory (ASTL) at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, under the oversight of the EOS Project Science Office at NASA Goddard. Instrument scheduling is coordinated by the ASTL, with formal arrangements made via the NASA Suborbital Science Program flight request process (see contact information section.)

The MAS instrument team devotes considerable effort to ensuring the quality and accuracy of its data products. If you publish scientific results involving MAS data, please include a reference to:

King, Menzel, Grant, Myers, Arnold, Platnick, Gumley, Tsay, Moeller, Fitzgerald, Brown, and Osterwisch, 1996: Airborne scanning spectrometer for remote sensing of cloud, aerosol, water vapor and surface properties. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 13, 777-794.