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STUDY ON SPECTRAL SIGNATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING IN CHINA 
Tong Qingxi 
Institute of Remote Sensing Application, Chines Academy 
of Sinica. P. B. Box 775, Beijing 100101 China 
ABSTRACT 
The high spectral resolution remote sensing has became one of main trend of development of 
remote sensing. By means of study on the spectral signature to contribute the spectra 
classification and recognition, the spectral measurements and analysis for various objects both 
in the laboratory and on the field have been carried out during the last decade in China. In 
this paper some results of study on the spectral signiture are described. 
During the last few years an airborne remote sensing system has been established in the 
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and an Advanced Modular Imaging Spectrometer (AMIS) with 71 
bands has been developed and operated in China. A number of flight with this system has been 
carried out in various areas of China, Russia, and Austral ia.The main features of the system 
and some results of applications are given in this paper. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Any earth object is characterized its spectral features, as increasing the spectral resolution, 
the ability of identification and classification of earth surface objects will be much 
increased. As a country with vast territory and diversity of natural resources and environment 
the remote sensing technologies and applications have been developed steadity in China 
especially in the last decade.At present, an airborne remote sensing technical system has been 
developed and established in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A special attention has 
been paied to the development of high spectral resolution remote sensing, a number of high 
spectral resolution imaging and non-imaging sensors have been developed, the last version is 
the Advanced Airborne Modular Imaging Spectrometer (AMIS). As an important part of high 
spectral resolution remote sensing, the study on the spectrla properties of various objects of 
the earth surface also has found its way to development. An extensive spectral measurements of 
different objects in visible -near infrared, short- wave infrared, thermal infrared and 
microwave ranges were made. 
According to the spectral features of various objects, the applications in different 
disciplines have been dealing with. 
2. SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS STUDY IN CHINA 
As the expanding of spectral wavelenth range to be used in remote sensing, various 
radiometers and instruments were designed and developed. The measurements of the 
signatures of various objects in laboratory, in field and by airborne have been made 
purposes of development of remote sensing technologies and applications. 
1). Measurement of Spectral Properties 
In order to fit the development of remote sensing .techniques and various applications, a 
uniform standard of spectral measurement and a radiation calibration laboratory with 
radiation standard system between 250nm-2500nm were set up for various spectral radiometers. 
More than one hundred instruments had been calibrated precisely by the system. Through this 
effecient work, the data obtained in last decade are more accurace, reliable and comparible 
Standing in with the standards, the huge amount of measurements have been made in 13 test 
sitesin cooperating with several national projects. They covered various typical regions with 
different physical conditions and landscapes, and involved in various applicatiojn purposes 
such as: agriculture, forest, environment, geology, geography and oceanography etc. All 
spectral 
spectral 
for the