Ground-based imaging spectroscopy data for estimation of Antarctic moss relative vigour from remotely sensed chlorophyll content and leaf density at ASPA 135

The ground-based imaging spectroscopy data were acquired with the Headwall Photonics Micro-Hyperspec VNIR scanner (Headwall Inc., USA) attached to a computer-controlled rotating/tilting platform. The sensor unit was placed approximately 2.5 m above the ground on a single pole mounted to a geodetic tripod. The Micro-Hyperspec is a push-broom scanner, which collects light passing through a lens objective with an aperture of f/2.8 (FOV of 49.8 degrees) and through a slit entrance of 25 microns. The spectral wavelengths are split by an aberration-corrected convex holographic diffraction grating and projected onto a charge-coupled device (CCD) matrix with a digital dynamic range of 12-bits and size of 1004 by 1004 pixel units. The CCD registers the captured light split into 324 (full spectral extent, FWHM of 4.12-4.67 nm) or 162 spectral bands (binning of two neighbouring spectral pixels as a single recording unit, FWHM of 4.75-5.25 nm). To ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio and to prevent oversaturation of the CCD dynamic range, the spectral binning (162 bands) combined with an integration time of 40 milliseconds (ms) was applied and oblique hyperspectral images (azimuth viewing angles of 44 degrees and 60 degrees) were collected at two test site