Airborne observations are one major link to get an overall picture of processes within the Earth environment during measurement campaigns. This includes application to derive atmospheric parameters, surface properties of vegetation, soil and minerals and dissolved or suspended matter in inland water and the ocean. Ground based systems and satellites are other key information sources to complement the airborne data sets. All these systems have their pros and cons, but a comprehensive view of the observed system is generally best obtained by means of a combination of all three. Aircraft operations strongly depend on weather conditions either to obtain the atmospheric phenomenon of interest or the required surface-viewing conditions and hence require sophisticated flight planning. They can cover large areas in the horizontal and vertical space with adaptable temporal sampling. Future satellite instruments can be tested and airborne platforms and systems are widely used in the development process. The validation of operational satellite systems and applications is a topic that has come increasingly into focus with the European Copernicus program in recent years. The large number of instruments available on aircraft enables a broad and flexible range of applications. The range includes sensors for meteorological parameters, trace gases and cloud/aerosol particles and more complex systems like high spectral resolution lidar, hyperspectral imaging at wavelengths from the visible to thermal infra-red and synthetic aperture radar. The development of smaller state-of-the-art instruments, the combination of more and more complex sets of instruments simultaneously on one platform, with improved accuracy and high data acquisition speed together with high accuracy navigation and inertial measurements enables more complex campaign strategies even on smaller aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). This will further increase the capabilities of the existing fleet of airborne research.

This session will bring together aircraft operators and the research community to present
• an overview of the current status of airborne related research
• recent airborne field campaigns and their outcomes
• multi-aircraft campaigns
• satellite calibration/validation campaigns
• sophisticated airborne instrument setups and observations
• advanced airborne instrument developments
• UAV applications
• future plans for airborne research