Airborne remote sensing research infrastructure for strengthening science, international collaboration and capacity building in the Arctic

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international collaboration of 28 scientific institutions from 10 countries to build a collaborative research infrastructure that will enable better estimates of future environmental and climate changes in the Arctic. SIOS' mission is to develop an efficient observing system in Svalbard, share technology and data using FAIR principles, fill knowledge gaps in Earth system science and reduce the environmental footprint of science in the Arctic. This study presents SIOS' efforts to strengthen science, international collaboration and capacity building in the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard through its airborne research infrastructure. SIOS supports the coordinated usage of its airborne remote sensing resources such as the Dornier aircraft and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) for improved research activities in Svalbard, complementing in situ and space-borne measurements and reducing the environmental footprint of research in Svalbard. Since 2019, SIOS in collaboration with its member institution Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) installed, tested, and operationalised optical imaging sensors in the Lufttransport Dornier (DO228) passenger aircraft stationed in Longyearbyen under the SIOS-InfraNor project making it compatible with research use in Svalbard. Two optical sensors are installed onboard the Dornier aircraft; (1) the PhaseOne IXU-150 RGB camera and (2) the HySpex VNIR-1800 hyperspectral sensor. The aircraft with these cameras is configured to acquire aerial RGB imagery and hyperspectral remote sensing data in addition to its regular logistics and transport operation in Svalbard. Since 2020, SIOS has supported and coordinated around 50 flight hours to acquire airborne data using the Dornier aircraft and UAVs in Svalbard supporting around 20 scientific projects. The use of airborne imaging sensors in these projects enabled a variety of applications within glaciology, biology, hydrology, and other fields of Earth system science: Mapping glacier crevasses, generating DEMs for glaciological applications, mapping and characterising earth (e.g., minerals, vegetation), ice (e.g., sea ice, icebergs, glaciers and snow cover) and ocean surface features (e.g., colour, chlorophyll). The use of passenger aircraft warrants the following benefits: (1) regular logistics and research activities are optimally coordinated to reduce flight hours in carrying scientific observations, (2) project proposals for the usage of aircraft-based measurements facilitate international collaboration, (3) measurements conducted during 2020-21 are useful in filling the gaps in field based observations occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, (4) airborne data are used to train polar scientists as a part of the annual SIOS training course and upcoming data usability contest, (5) data is also useful for Arctic field safety as it can be used to make products such as high-resolution maps of crevassed areas on glaciers. In short, SIOS airborne remote sensing activities represent optimized use of infrastructure, promote capacity building, Arctic safety and facilitate international cooperation.