ATLAS uses a tunable laser to detect an infrared-active target gas such as N2O, methane, carbon monoxide, or ozone. The laser source is tuned to an individual roto-vibrational line in an infrared absorption band of the target gas, and is frequency modulated at 2 kHz. The instrument detects the infrared target gas by measuring the fractional absorption of the infrared beam from the tunable diode laser as it traverses a multipass White cell containing an atmospheric sample at ambient pressure.

Synchronous detection of the resultant amplitude modulation at 2kHz and 4kHz yields the first and second harmonics of the generally weak absorption feature with high sensitivity (DI/I < 1E-5). Part of the main beam is split off through a short cell containing a known amount of the target gas to a reference detector. The reference first harmonic signal is used to lock the laser frequency to the absorption line center, while the second harmonic signal is used to derive the calibration factor needed to convert the measurement beam second harmonic amplitude into absolute gas concentration. A zero beam is included to correct for background gas absorption occurring outside the multipass cell. The response time of the instrument is set by the gas flow rate through the White cell, which is normally adjusted to give a new sample every second. Periodic standard additions of the target gas are injected into the sample stream as a second method to calibrate the measurement technique and as an overall instrument diagnostic.

ACATS-IV is a 4-channel gas chromatograph with electron capture detection (ECD) that measures a variety of halocarbons and other long-lived trace gases in the stratosphere. The instrument is currently configured to measure CFC-11 (CCl3F), CFC-12 (CCl2F2), CFC-113 (CCl2FCClF2), methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), halon-1211 (CBrClF2), chloroform (CHCl3), methane (CH4), and hydrogen (H2) every 125 s, and nitrous oxide (N2O) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) every 250 s. Each channel is comprised of a sample loop (2-10 cm3 volume), gas sampling valve (GSV), chromatographic column pair, ECD, electrometer, and several flow, temperature, and pressure controllers. In-flight calibration is carried out every 625 s (1250 s for N2O and SF6) by injecting a dried, whole air standard containing approximately 80% of tropospheric mixing ratios.

AVIRIS is the second in a series of imaging spectrometer instruments developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for earth remote sensing. It is a unique optical sensor that delivers calibrated images of the upwelling spectral radiance in 224 contiguous spectral channels (bands) with wavelengths from 380 to 2510 nanometers. It uses scanning optics and four spectrometers to image a 677 pixel swath simultaneously in all 224 bands. AVIRIS has flown in North America, Europe, and portions of South America.

The AVIRIS sensor collects data that can be used for characterization of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from geometrically coherent spectroradiometric measurements. This data can be applied to studies in the fields of oceanography, environmental science, snow hydrology, geology, volcanology, soil and land management, atmospheric and aerosol studies, agriculture, and limnology. Applications under development include the assessment and monitoring of environmental hazards such as toxic waste, oil spills, and land/air/water pollution. With proper calibration and correction for atmospheric effects, the measurements can be converted to ground reflectance data which can then be used for quantitative characterization of surface features.

The AOCI is a high altitude multispectral scanner built by Daedalus Enterprises, designed for oceanographic remote sensing. It provides 10-bit digitization of eight bands in the visible/near-infrared region of the spectrum, plus two 8-bit bands in the near and thermal infrared.

The Autonomous Modular Sensor (AMS) is an airborne scanning spectrometer that acquires high spatial resolution imagery of the Earth's features from its vantage point on-board low and medium altitude research aircraft. Data acquired by AMS is helping to define, develop, and test algorithms for use in a variety of scientific programs that emphasize the use of remotely sensed data to monitor variation in environmental conditions, assess global change, and respond to natural disasters.

The Airborne Scanning Microwave Limb Sounder (A-SMLS) makes wide-swath vertical profile observations of the composition
of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (the atmospheric region from ~10–20km altitude). A-SMLS measurements are
well suited to studies of convective outflow, long-range pollution transport, and exchange of air between the
troposphere and stratosphere. These atmospheric processes have strong impacts on climate and air quality but are
currently incompletely understood. Improved understanding of these issues is one of the main goals of NASA’s atmospheric
composition Earth science focus area. A-SMLS airborne observations reflect the priority spaceborne “Ozone and Trace Gas”
observables identified in the recent Decadal Survey.

A-SMLS was initially developed and flown on the WB-57 under the NASA Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), following
which, it was adapted to the ER-2 platform. Subsequent work, funded under an additional IIP, has upgraded the receivers
to ones that require cooling to only 70K rather than the previously needed 4K, and to use newer technology digital
spectrometers. Test flights for A-SMLS in this new configuration are planned, but further work, proposed here, is needed
to make the instrument fully “campaign ready”.

A-SMLS observes a ~300km-wide swath ~300km ahead of the aircraft in a 2D raster scan (azimuth and elevation), with
~10x10km horizontal sampling (across and along-track). As typically configured, A-SMLS measures water vapor, ozone, and
carbon monoxide. Retuning of the instrument (including in flight) can provide measurements of other species (including
N2O, HCN, CH3CN, H2CO, and others).

The instrument would be a particularly valuable addition to multi-aircraft campaigns. The broad swath A-SMLS
observations from the ER-2 could be used in near-real-time to help guide lower altitude aircraft carrying in situ
sensors to regions of interest.

As part of NASA's Airborne Instrument Technology Transition (AITT) program, the instrument is currently being updated to
help cement its suitability for campaign-mode operations, specifically, this involves:

- Addition of a liquid cooling loop to transfer waste heat from the existing ~70K cryocooler to the outer skin of the
ER-2 wing pod.

- Development of an “intelligent scan” system that accounts for aircraft orientation etc. when performing the 2D
raster limb scan on the atmosphere.

- Completion of a thorough ground-based instrument calibration.

- Development of an on-board radiance compression scheme that will enable key data to be transferred to the ground for
use in real-time flight planning as described above.

- Updates to the analysis algorithms software used for Aura MLS, enabling their application to A-SMLS observations.

ALIAS (Aircraft Laser Infrared Absorption Spectrometer) measures total water, total water isotopes, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide isotope ratios. No other instrument provides real-time measurements of carbon dioxide isotope ratios which are clear identifiers of atmospheric transport (18O/17O/16O for stratospheric intrusion, 13C/12C for anthropogenic signals). ALIAS easily adapts to changing mission priorities and can be configured to measure HCl, CH4, SO2, and N2O by simply replacing a semiconductor laser. These measurements contribute to Atmospheric Composition Focus Area research by providing key data on how convective processes affect stratospheric composition, the development of cirrus particles and their affect on Earth's radiative balance, and health of the ozone layer through measurement of chlorine partitioning.

The APS is a passive sensor designed to gather high altitude dust particles for laboratory research. An APS paddle is deployed from a wingtip pod into stratosphere once the ER-2 has reached cruising altitude, and is retracted before descent. Both wire impactor and oil-film paddles are used. After approximately 40 hours of exposure, the sealed units are returned to the investigator for examination by an electron microscope. The returned particles can be the by-products of meteor decomposition in the upper atmosphere, or the products of massive volcanic eruptions.

The Airborne Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (AirMISR) is an airborne instrument for obtaining multi-angle imagery similar to that of the satellite-borne Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument, which is designed to contribute to studies of the Earth's ecology and climate. AirMISR flies on the NASA ER-2 aircraft. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California built the instrument for NASA.

Unlike the spaceborne MISR instrument, which has nine cameras oriented at various angles, AirMISR utilizes a single camera in a pivoting gimbal mount. A data run by the ER-2 aircraft is divided into nine segments, each with the camera positioned to a MISR look angle. The gimbal rotates between successive segments, such that each segment acquires data over the same area on the ground as the previous segment. This process is repeated until all nine angles of the target area are collected. The swath width, which varies from 11 km in the nadir to 32 km at the most oblique angle, is governed by the camera's instantaneous field-of-view of 7 meters cross-track x 6 meters along-track in the nadir view and 21 meters x 55 meters at the most oblique angle. The along-track image length at each angle is dictated by the timing required to obtain overlap imagery at all angles, and varies from about 9 km in the nadir to 26 km at the most oblique angle. Thus, the nadir image dictates the area of overlap that is obtained from all nine angles. A complete flight run takes approximately 13 minutes.