Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF)

Lead Research Organisation: King's College London
Department Name: NCEO Kings

Abstract

Earth Observation (EO) is an essential tool for understanding terrestrial, marine, freshwater, cryospheric and atmospheric processes at globally significant scales. There are enormous scientific and commercial opportunities arising from these data as the global array of EO platforms and sensors increases rapidly. Much EO relies on satellite measurements of electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted by the Earth. These space data require careful interpretation against local field observations of spectra in order to best extract the information pertaining to Earth's environment.
NERC's Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF) will support this process, providing a critical mass in field spectroscopic operation, technical innovation and financial efficiency for UK science. FSF will underpin EO analysis across environmental science domains by providing direct community access to advanced spectroscopic instruments, calibration facilities, and field support and advice. FSF will support the development of techniques to estimate environmental parameters from remotely sensed spectral measures, and for the ground validation and calibration of near-earth, airborne and satellite EO data. FSF will also support relevant and critical international activities that underpin spectroscopic interpretation. FSF national capability is linked to its unique combination of instrument expertise, direct access laboratory/calibration facilities, field work logistics support, high quality training and equipment for loan.
FSF will provide a unique facility, supplying UK scientists not only with equipment, but with the training, optical laboratory access and guidance at all project stages, from methods development to in-field support through to data analysis. FSF will provide users with training to be experts in field spectroscopy techniques, to understand the measurements they are making, the equipment they are using, and how to get the most out of their fieldwork and data. FSF is committed to delivering this science support to a broad user community, from EO experts who lead spectroscopic technique development, to environmental scientists who need support to interpret and analyse EO data to address their science. FSF will engage and support communities from terrestrial, oceanic and atmospheric domains, and across disciplines from field biology, ecology, land use, biogeochemistry, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, volcanology, cryosphere, marine science among others. FSF will host and support a pool of modern, field-ready instruments for use by the UK science community: field spectroradiometers, an open path FTIR spectrometer, tracking and handheld sun photometers and an underwater optical sensor suite. FSF will provide a direct access optical calibration laboratory, providing users with the capability to calibrate and characterise their equipment to traceable national standards. These facilities will also allow FSF to conduct 'in-house' research and development, optimising spectrometer system performance, to produce new methods and tools to support NERC scientists. FSF has advanced understanding of its equipment and their physical measurements, allowing FSF to give its users more insight into data, their limitations and how they can best be utilised. FSF will also support calibration of NCEO instrumentation and implementation of relevant NCEO NC science. The goal for FSF will be to maximise access to its resources and to support the highest impact science as a result.

Publications

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Title FSF Headwall Hyperspectral Imager 
Description Video of the first project flight of our Headwall hyperspectral imager. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Raises the visibility of facility. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJZEjAJhvr4&ab_channel=NERCFieldSpectroscopyFacility
 
Title How to use a Solar Light Microtops II Sunphotometer (with Python) 
Description Video showing the use of a Microtops sunphotometer 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Has been used to show the use of a sunphotometer for to users not based in the UK, or when travel has been restricted. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pg6hpImQ1c&ab_channel=NERCFieldSpectroscopyFacility
 
Description Funding for Leicester Secondment and Development of Hyperspectral Imaging Characterisation Protocol by NPL
Amount £34,640 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2020 
End 03/2020
 
Description NERC Capital Fund for 5 x CIMEL Sunphotometers
Amount £247,088 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2020 
End 04/2021
 
Description NERC National Capability Commissioning - Services & Facilities
Amount £945,000 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2019 
End 03/2024
 
Description NERC Targeted Resource Funding for Operations technician post
Amount £68,225 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2021 
End 03/2023
 
Description Transformational Capital for UAV Hyperspectral Imager and GHG Mega-city monitoring network.
Amount £1,100,000 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2019 
End 03/2020
 
Description CHIMES 
Organisation European Space Agency
Country France 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution FSF is involved in the Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging (CHIME) Mission Advisory Group for the European Space Agency (ESA). This involves field support for its AVIRIS airborne campaign. This is in the form of ground targets, sunphotometer, and in-field support with field spectrometer loans and flight of our Headwall hyperspectral UAV.
Collaborator Contribution They're building a satellite.
Impact TBD.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Cambridge Centre for Earth Observation 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Department Department of Plant Sciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution FSF partnered with the Cambridge Centre for Earth Observation to enhance our network. Their website is a central resource for those interested in the remote sensing activities of the Centre and their partners. Joining as a partner gives users of the Centre, both from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere, more information about the equipment and expertise at the facility, and contact information to get in touch with us. We have also have provided blog-style posts showcasing FSF-supported work.
Collaborator Contribution The Center offers a platform to increase our visibility within the UK remote sensing world.
Impact Directory listing of FSF contact details on site with wider/differing base to FSF Blog style post of FSF-supported work
Start Year 2020
 
Description Geokonzept Headwall 
Organisation Center for Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Europe
Country Germany 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Through the purchase of our Headwall Hyperspectral imager, we have a good working collaboration as part of the Center for Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Europe (CHRSE) through Headwall and geo-konzept. We have presented material on the Facility and our hyperspectral imager at the Autumn CHRSE meet in 2020.
Collaborator Contribution This collaboration has many benefits in extending our visibility outside of the UK. This enabled us to work with geo-konzept to fly a mission in Germany when travel restrictions meant we could not attend in person. We have also seen commercial interest in our hyperspectral capability as a result of the autumn meeting.
Impact Meeting participation leveraging local contacts to borrow equipment and perform flights.
Start Year 2020
 
Description HYPERNET 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution FSF collaborated with the Earth Observation, Climate and Optical Group at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to establish a new vicarious satellite calibration site in Gobabeb, Namibia as part of the HYPERNETS Horizon 2020 project (involving a consortium of 6 European and one Argentinian institution: RBINS, TARTU, SU, CNR, NPL, GFZ, CONICET), and help characterise a new RadCalNet site (ESA, NASA, Magellium, NPL, CNES, AOE + MetEOC-3). For this campaign, FSF designed and carried out detailed ground surveys using our new MAIA Sentinel2 Multispectral Camera (Sal Engineering) and RTK-enabled SVC 1024i field spectrometer along multiple transects at the prospective RadCalNet and HYPERNETS sites, which will be used to look at BDRF variance at different spatial scales.
Collaborator Contribution NPL is the lead group, coordinating the field campaign and data analysis.
Impact DFOV methodology for field spectroscopy surveys. DFOV python script for automatically applying irradiance correction. Ground based MAIA S2 Camera use and processing workflow.
Start Year 2020
 
Description IEEE Hyperspectral Working Group 
Organisation Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Department IEEE Standards Association
Country United States 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution FSF is directly involved in the IEEE Working group on Standard for Characterization and Calibration of Ultraviolet through Shortwave Infrared (250 nm to 2500 nm) Hyperspectral Imaging Devices. This involves meetings and discussions to establish standards in terminology and lab techniques across groups. This involves participation in round-robin lab calibration exercises. Recently we have been involved in characterising stray light as part of the working groups' subcommittee on stray light and are contributing to a document on radiometric standards and calibration for the radiometry subgroup.
Collaborator Contribution Hyperspectral imaging is an innovative and exciting technology that hold incredible diagnostic, scientific and categorization power. Current industry innovation is a testament to the creative power and imagination of the diverse community seeking to optimize this technology. However, fundamental instrument performance is not well characterized, well understood or well represented to suit distinct application endeavors or commercial market expectations. Establishing a common language, technical specification, testing criteria, task-specific recommendations and common data formats are essential to allowing this technology to achieve its true altruistic and economic market potential. The working group needs passionate experts that are willing to lend their time and experience to transform this world-changing imaging technique into reliable, predictable tools for science and industry.
Impact Improvements in intercomparability of our equipment with that of other laboratories Generation of lab protocols for characterizing spectometers and hyperspectral imaging sensors.
Start Year 2012
 
Title DFOV Processing Script 
Description Script automatically applies DFOV correction to field spectrometer measurements when using them in DFOV configuration. Producing reflectance values corrected for variation in solar irradiance. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Streamlined data processing 
 
Title Python 3 Microtops Data Downloader 
Description Data downloader for Microtops Sunphotometers. Improves on native RS232 communication and updates Python 2 modules. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Simple useful tool to make using microtops sunphotometers easier. 
URL https://github.com/NERC-FieldSpectroscopyFacility/PyMicrotops3
 
Description ATSC Training Course: Practical use of Earth Observation Data in Research 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Annual workshop, joint with NEODAAS delivered virtually during 2020 to c. 30 PhD/postdoctoral researchers over 4 days.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://data.neodaas.ac.uk/files/training_october_2020/
 
Description Cambridge Open Science Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact FSF presented its upcoming UAV sensor capability to a UK Polar Network event focused on drone technology in Polar Sciences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Documentary Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact FSF Operations Manager was interviewed whilst in Antarctica, on his research, remote sensing validation and UK tools for EO, for the Life and Science Documentary in Chile.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description EGU General Assembly 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation: London Carbon Emission Experiment

Presented by Neil Humpage of the University of Leicester, with materials from FSF. Presentation on the first deployment of the NERC FSF GHG network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2020/EGU2020-21177.html
 
Description Edinburgh: Global Change Seminar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Seminar delivered on using field spectroscopy to build models to detect ecology in remote locations. Scaling between ground and satellite observations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Exhibit at British Ecology Society Annual Meeting, 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact FSF exhibited the services and new capability available through our facility at the Annual Meeting of the British Ecology Society in Belfast. This involved an instrument showcase with field spectrometers and drones/thermal imagery. As well as talking with academics about using remote sensing within their research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/events/annual-meeting-2019/
 
Description General Assembly of the Copernicus networks 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Network building virtual assembly amongst other European Commission, Copernicus Academy and Copernicus Relay members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.copernicus.eu/en/events/events/online-general-assembly-copernicus-networks
 
Description IEEE Hyperspectral Working Group Meetings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact IEEE Working Group meets monthly (see Collaboration and Partnerships section for more info on the scope of the working group). Generally, the meetings are discussion on terminology, best practise, lab characterisation standards and the technology behind hyperspectral imaging.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020,2021
URL https://sagroups.ieee.org/sagroups-hyperspectral/meeting-agenda-minutes/
 
Description International Science Advisory Board Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact FSF presented its capability to an international science advisory board coordinated by NCEO.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Poster at ESA LPS 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 05:22 pm
The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility Spectral Atmospheric Suite (SAS) -- a portable trace gas measurement network for GHG validation studies
Dr. Robbie Ramsay | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
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Authors:
Dr. Robbie Ramsay | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Dr. Andrew Gray | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Jack Gillespie | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Mathew Williams | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility
Satellite observations of greenhouse gases (GHG) are greatly enhanced when used in conjunction with ground-based sensor networks. By using clusters of spectroscopic instruments measuring GHG column abundances at locations along the satellite overpass, critical validation data for satellite GHG measurements can be provided.

In particular, missions such as NASA OCO-3 and the upcoming UKSA-CNES MicroCarb - which will provide measurements of CO2 over cities - would be aided by the presence of such ground based networks around and within urban areas. These would act as both validation sites for satellite GHG measurements, and as a long term measurement network of GHG column abundances, improving the understanding of carbon dynamics within urban areas.

However, there has previously existed a gap in the provision of such ground based networks, due to expense, infrastructure concerns, and the ability to provide autonomously acquired, high resolution data. This issue is exacerbated in areas of restricted or minimal site infrastructure, such as in city centres or remote site locations of interest e.g. peatlands, tropical forests. To fill this gap, the NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF) has developed the Spectral Atmospheric Suite (SAS), a suite of high resolution, portable and autonomous spectroscopic instruments which can be deployed by FSF as a cluster network, available for research communities in the UK and internationally.

The SAS consists of three discrete instrument "nodes", which can be deployed individually or as part of a network cluster. Each instrument node consists of a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer (the EM27/SUN (Bruker GmbH, Germany), spectral range: 5,000 - 14,500 cm-1), measuring the column abundances of CO2, CH4 and CO; a 2D MAX-DOAS (the 2D SkySpec (AirYX GmbH, Germany), spectral range: 300 - 565 nm), measuring the slant column densities of a range of trace gases including NO2 and SO2; an automatic weather station (Vaisala, Finland) measuring meteorological parameters required for the retrievals of GHGs and trace gases; and a sun-sky-lunar sunphotometer (CIMEL Electronic, France), measuring aerosol optical thickness. Combined, each node represents an autonomous "miniature supersite", capable of providing long term measurements as a ground based validation site for satellite measurements of GHGs and other trace gases. Each node is portable and has a low spatial footprint, allowing for easy deployment in areas of minimal or restricted infrastructure, such as city centres or remote wetland regions.

We present here an overview of the NERC FSF Spectral Atmospheric Suite and how, as part of its current deployment until 2022 with the University of Leicester's London Carbon Emissions Experiment, it will provide a ground based validation site for upcoming missions such as UKSA-CNES MicroCarb.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at Snow Algal Meet 2020 Virtual Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presenting FSF research into ecological monitoring of Antarctic ecosystems using field spectroscopy/EO data
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description SENSE CDT Training on Atmospheric Correction 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact 2 days of training to NERC's EO CDT "SENSE". Training on atmospheric correction delivered joint with NEODAAS in a virtual environment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Scottish Biodiversity Conference Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact FSF presented its drone/sensor capability in a presentation at the Scottish Biodiversity conference at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description TV interview on NERC investment on drone technology for remote sensing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact TV interview given to BBC Scotland on report linking drones to geosciences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Talk at ESA LPS 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Talk at ESA Living Planet Syposium.

C4.01.1 Innovative UAV applications - 1

01:30 pm
The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility UAV Suite
Jack Gillespie | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
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Authors:
Jack Gillespie | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Dr. Andrew Gray | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Dr. Robbie Ramsay | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
Mathew Williams | NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility | United Kingdom
The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility (Edinburgh, UK) has provided ground based spectroscopic instrumentation and expertise for UK and international researchers for 16 years, often in support of airborne spectroscopic surveys. A gap, however, has previously existed in the spatial scale of the measurements which the facility could provide. Hyperspectral imagers can show < mm spatial variations in reflectance at ground level, but provision of plot or even landscape scale was limited to support of airborne campaigns. Deploying hyperspectral imagers on a drone based platform would be a step change in data acquisition, allow researchers seeking FSF support too easily scale up hyperspectral reflectance indices over large areas, perform individual-level plant species mapping, monitor plant disease or stress, measure sun induced fluorescence, detect invasive species or perform spatial investigation of different plant physiological traits, all with the potential for satellite data integration.

With recent developments in drone and sensor technology, we have recently been able to combine our expertise in field spectroscopy, as well as our extensive instrument library, with new and emerging UAV technologies, to provide a dedicated Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF) UAV Suite, which can be loaned to UK and international research groups. To support the varying demands of research questions, the suite provides a number of dedicated drone and sensor platforms, which - due to the modular nation of the UAVs and sensors used - allow for novel, custom solutions. All sensors provided are calibrated and quality assured by FSF staff at the facility's optical dark lab, and data processing and piloting services are also provided.

In this presentation, we outline select campaigns which the FSF UAV suite has so far been, or is preparing to be, involved in. This includes the use of a UAV mounted hyperspectral imager with LIDAR capability used in support of agricultural drought measurements; the use of the same drone-sensor for the detection of marine plastics from space; the use of a multispectral camera (equipped with the same wavelength intervals used by Sentinel-2) for UAV archaeological surveying; and the planned use of a UAV mounted solar induced fluorescence sensor package as part of the ESA FLEX mission.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The 16th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation on the London GHG Carbon Emissions Experiment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Virtual Workshop hosted by the Center for Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Europe (CHRSE). 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Invited presentation on Field Spectroscopy Facility with focus on our new UAV imaging capability
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://analytik.co.uk/dont-miss-the-chrse-autumn-workshop/?utm_campaign=CHRSE%20Autumn%20Event%20Pr...