The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) launched on NASA's Terra satellite in December 1999 provides anew tool for Earth observations. ASTER provides high-resolution, 15m(VNIR), 30m (SWIR) and 90m (TIR) coverage for limited areas with unique multispectal SWIR and TIR coverage and 15 m stereo coverage for DEM generation. These data have been used extensively for volcano and glacier monitoring. ASTER observations of over 1000 volcanoes around the world represent a significant increase in our ability to monitor volcanic activity and to map the products of eruptions. The SWIR channels have been used for mapping hot areas with temperatures up to 350 C and the multispectral TIR data have been used to map ash and SO2 plumes. ASTER data are being used in the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project to map and catalog the approximately 80,000 glaciers. The objective is to acquire multiple observations to detect changes in ice margins and surface feature velocities. ASTER data acquired over the Jornada Experimental range in New Mexico have been used to extract spectral emissivities in the 8 to 12 micrometer range. These TIR data were also used in models to estimate the surface energy fluxes. Similar analysis of data acquired over the El Reno Oklahoma test site has shown that our satellite estimates of the surface fluxes agree reasonably well with ground measurements.