Airborne Data Collection
For many years, airborne data collection has been an important part of the planetary and earth sciences. Since the late 1980’s, scientists at NASA have been monitoring the changes in ice mass at the extremities of the earth using data collected from airborne systems. Before this type of data collection, changes in ice mass were determined using ground measurements as well as satellite photos.
One primary recognized advantage of airborne data collection was the ability to cover large areas efficiently and economically. This led to the advancement of earth-observational sensors and the particular interest in sensors fitted to aircraft. In 1987, NASA showed that ground measurements were able to be made within an accuracy of +/- 10cm over the Greenland ice sheet, and later sub-decimeter measurements were proven using more complex techniques.