NEW AIRBORNE INSTRUMENT CAPABILITIES INCLUDING THE NASA COASTAL AND OCEAN AIRBORNE SCIENCE TESTBED (COAST PI:GUILD)AND OCEAN COLOR ECOSYSTEMS ASSESSMENT WITH NOVEL INSTRUMENTS AND AIRCRAFT (OCEANIA PI:GUILD) ARE ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TO ADDRESS MEASUREMENT CHALLENGES OF THE OPTICALLY COMPLEX COASTAL ZONE AND INLAND WATERS WHILE MAINTAINING OPEN OCEAN COMPETENCIES. THE NASA AMES COASTAL AIRBORNE INSTRUMENT RADIOMETERS (C-AIR) A NEW AIRBORNE BIO-OPTICAL MICRORADIOMETER INSTRUMENT PACKAGE WAS FLOWN FOR COAST (NASA HOPE) IN 2011 AND OCEANIA (NASA AMES SIF) IN 2013 OVER MONTEREY BAY CA. C-AIR USES 19 HIGHLY-ACCURATE MICRORADIOMETERS TO PROVIDE AN UNPRECEDENTED DYNAMIC RANGE (10 DECADES) FOR REMOTE SENSING OF APPARENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES (AOPS). THE SENSORS HAVE A HIGH DATA RATE (GREATER THAN 15 HZ) AND DO NOT SATURATE WHEN VIEWING THESUN OR SUN GLINT. A 2015 NASA AMES SIF AWARD IS ADDING THE NASA GODDARD COMPACT-AIRBORNE ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOMETERS FOROCEANOGRAPHY (C-AERO) AND AN ENHANCED SPECTRAL RANGE (19 CHANNELS EACH SPANNING 320 1 640 NM) FOR C-AIR TO MATCH C-AERO. THE COMBINATION ALLOWS COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERIC STUDIES AND AN IMPROVEMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION SCHEMES EMPHASIZING LONG WAVELENGTHS. C-AIR AND C-AERO HAVE 19 MICRORADIOMETER CHANNELS THAT MATCH LEGACY AND NEXT-GENERATION SATELLITES USED IN ALGORITHMS TO PRODUCE OCEAN COLOR PRODUCTS AND SUPPORTING WATER QUALITY RESEARCH TOOLS TO ASSESS PHYTOPLANKTON (AND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM) SPECIES COMPOSITION AND SHALLOW WATER COMMUNITY COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT. BOTH INSTRUMENTS HAVE UNPRECEDENTED SIGNAL TONOISE AND PROVIDE HIGH FIDELITY AOP MEASUREMENTS AT THE LAND-OCEAN BOUNDARY INCLUDING RADIOMETRICALLY SHALLOW AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ACROSS A HERETOFORE RARELY ACHIEVED SPECTRAL RANGE (UV TO SWIR). THESE ATTRIBUTES ARE CRITICAL FOR ANSWERING SCIENCE QUESTIONS IN DYNAMIC COASTAL WATERS AND SUPPORTING NEXT GENERATION COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERIC SATELLITE MISSIONS RELEVANT TO NASA'S CARBON CYCLE AND ECOSYSTEMS EARTH SCIENCE FOCUS AREA. FURTHER THIS AIRBORNE CAPABILITY SUPPORTS THE WATER AND ENERGY CYCLE CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE AND ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION FOCUS AREAS.THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO MATURE AN AIRBORNE CALIBRATION VALIDATION AND RESEARCH (CVR) CAPABILITY FOR PRESENT AND NEXT-GENERATION COASTAL AND OCEAN BIOLOGY BIO-OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS USING EXISTING AIRBORNE RADIOMETERS DEVELOPED WITH NASAFUNDING THAT IS BEING COMMERCIALIZED FOR THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE. BECAUSE THE RADIANCE INSTRUMENTS CAN BE POINTED AT ANY NATURAL TARGET WITH EQUAL EFFICACY THE RADIOMETERS CAN PROVIDE HIGH-QUALITY CVR DATA FOR COUPLED ATMOSPHERIC-OCEANIC MISSIONS (E.G. PACE GEOCAPE AND HYSPIRI) AND SUPPORTING CVR FIELD ACTIVITIES (E.G. HARPOONS EXPORTS AND ARTICCOLORS). THE CAIRAND C-AERO RADIANCE PAIRS ALLOW THE SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF THE SUN AND SKY PLUS THE SEA SURFACE AT TWO DIFFERENT ANGLES WITH THE LATTER SLANT PATHS PROVIDING ADDITIONAL ATMOSPHERIC ATTENUATION CHARACTERIZATIONS. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROPOSAL ARE TO SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES TO ADVANCE THE COMBINED C-AIR AND C-AERO INSTRUMENT SUITE: 1) DESIGN AND CERTIFY THE HARDWARE FOR C-AIR AND C-AERO TO BE INTEGRATED FOR A VARIETY OF AIRCRAFT AND TO BE CAMPAIGN READY TO RESPOND TO COASTAL EVENTS; 2) IMPLEMENT THERMAL RESPONSE ANALYSES FOR THE 19-MICRORADIOMETER C-AERO ARRAYS AND ESTIMATE THE IMPROVED ACCURACY WITH COMPARISONS TO C-AIR; 3) IMPLEMENT A FIELD-COMMISSIONED SUN-TRACKING CAPABILITY FOR MEASUREMENTS SUPPORTING ATMOSPHERIC CHARACTERIZATION AND CORRECTION; 4) INCREASE THE C-AERO DATA ACQUISITION RATE TO 25HZ; 5) IMPROVE SPATIAL ACCURACY FOR WATER-LEAVING RADIANCE BY REDUCING TIMING AND POINTING UNCERTAINTIES; 6) REDESIGN THE AIRCRAFT-INSTRUMENT INTERFACE MOUNT TO ALLOW STATIC OR POSSIBLY DYNAMIC RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN AIRCRAFT PITCH BIAS; AND 7) SOFTWARE PROCESS FLOW FOR END-TO-END DATA ACQUISITION PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS.