Airborne mapping and in situ validation of European land surface temperature using the NASA-JPL HyTES sensor. Results from the 2019 European NET-Sense Campaign in support of the Copernicus High Priority Candidate satellite mission development.

<p>The NASA ESA Temperature Sensing Experiment (NET-Sense) is a NASA and ESA funded campaign in support of the Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) satellite mission.</p><p>The LSTM mission would carry a calibrated, high spatial-temporal resolution thermal infrared imager whose data would be used to provide the land-surface temperature information required for such applications as evapotranspiration estimation at the European field-scale. The LSTM mission responds to priority requirements of the agricultural user community for improving sustainable agricultural productivity in a world of increasing water scarcity and variability.</p><p>As part of the effort to LSTM mission development effort, the first non-US flights of NASA JPL&#8217;s state-of-the-art Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) were conducted on a UK research aircraft in both the UK and Italy in June and July 2019. HyTES is an airborne thermal hyperspectral imager providing extremely high quality and radiometrically precise infrared radiances within 256 spectral channels across the spectral range 7.5 to 12 &#181;m, with the primary aim to map LST and surface spectral emissivity. Flights in Italy were accompanied by the HyPLANT and TASI instruments, operated by FZ-Juelich, Germany installed aboard a second aircraft from CzechGlobe (CZ).</p><p>We provide an overview of the NET-Sense campaign, example results from HyTES and comparisons to in situ LST and surface spectral emissivity data collected co-incident with the aircraft overflights using tower-mounted radiometers and portable FTIR spectrometers adapted for the purpose. We explain the integration of NET-Sense into the broader science strategy for the LSTM mission, and highlight planned activities for the coming years, including NET-Sense 2020 European campaign plans.</p>