Abstract

Reflectance spectroscopy in the ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths is a useful tool for evaluating environmental contaminants at scales from hand specimens to those available from airborne and spaceborne remote-sensing platforms. In particular, use of airborne hyperspectral systems with hundreds of contiguous spectral channels substantially increases the certainty of mineral identifications compared to more widely used multi-spectral systems. Imaging spectroscopy has been successfully used to aid researchers in characterizing potential environmental impacts posed by acid-rock drainage, Katrina related oils spills, and asbestos in serpentine mineral deposits and in urban dust. Many of these applications synergistically combine field spectroscopy with remote sensing data, thus allowing more precise data calibration, spectral analysis of the data, and verification of mapping. The increased accuracy makes these environmental evaluation tools efficient because they can be used to focus field work on those areas most critical to the research effort. The use of spectroscopy to evaluate minerals of environmental concern pushes current imaging spectrometer technology to its limits.

© 2010 Optical Society of America