20 Years

Greg and colleague Dr. Robin Martin are in the far back side of Limahuli Valley on Kauaʻi island. Their field spectrometers are not telling the story that was told to them as students just a decade earlier. That story said all plants have similar chemistries and color. But their instruments reveal nothing but uniqueness among co-existing plant species, each with a different chemistry and spectral signal, despite being "green" to the naked eye. The Spectranomics concept was born in that remote valley on Kauaʻi.

Deep in Queensland's rainforests, the team builds the foundation of Spectronomics from the ground up — literally. Handheld spectrometers pressed to leaves. Canopy samples cataloged. The painstaking work of matching chemistry to species, one tree at a time. Before you can see biodiversity from the air, you have to know what you're looking for.

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Greg and team have defined the specifications for a new airborne sensor package to probe the 3D structure and chemistry of ecosystems. They collect up engineering talent in the U.S. and Canada. The stakes are high but the funding is solid from the W.M. Keck Foundation and William R. Hearst III. They are setting course for an all new era in conservation mapping.

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Home in Hilo, Hawaii, the team finalizes the new instrument package, custom software, and computers to take a stab at 3D mapping of forests on Hawaiʻi Island. Never before achieved, they use a tiny Piper Navajo, careening between the massive slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes. They finally get the system to work over an iconic volcanic cinder cone known as PuʻuWaʻawaʻa. The image makes the front page of the Honolulu newspaper days later.

Early CAO-1 missions over Hawaiian forests and California ecosystems prove the fusion concept works — spectral and LiDAR data can be combined from the air to see what no one has seen before.

The Carnegie Airborne Observatory launches its first generation. A compact Visible-to-Near-Infrared imaging spectrometer paired with a simple LiDAR, fitted into a Piper Navajo aircraft. Funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation and William R. Hearst III. The team is just three people.

The Carnegie Airborne Observatory evolves. CAO Beta deploys aboard a Twin Otter aircraft with expanded sensor payload provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with improved spectral resolution. More machinery, more range, more data. The Beta phase proves the technology can scale beyond proof-of-concept — setting the stage for the major leap to come.

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Transition from experimental to operational platform

Asner publishes the foundational paper in the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing describing the CAO's integrated approach: in-flight fusion of hyperspectral imaging and waveform LiDAR for 3D ecosystem studies.

Working with collaborators from the U.S. Forest Service, the CAO team flys and reflys the eastern flank of Mauna Kea volcano, where native tropical forests contain abundant species and high level of stored carbon. This is their testing ground for a new approach to mapping carbon stocks using airborne lasers and spectrometers.

The team has a new idea to integrate an even more capable imaging spectrometer provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) into a Twin Otter aircraft. Basing the operation in Kona, Hawaiʻi, the combined Carnegie-JPL team succeeds in generating the first fully integrated laser and visible-to-shortwave infrared spectrometer measurements from the air. The team flys from mountains to coral reefs, collecting a first-ever database for research and development that eventually leads to CAO-3.

Until then, the team has been operating CAO-1/2 over Hawaiʻi Island, developing and improving the instrumentation, software, and data processing streams. The State of Hawaiʻi asks for the novel imaging on the island of Oʻahu, where forests remain only on remote mountain tops. The team uses this opportunity to spread its wings.

CAO takes flight over African savannas for the first time. In partnership with South African National Parks, the team surveys Kruger's 1.9 million hectares — mapping over 10 million trees to understand how the park's booming elephant population is reshaping the landscape.

The story of CAO makes the news, and Bill Robertson from the Andrew Mellon Foundation comes to Hawaiʻi to ask Greg if they can map the savannas of South Africa. Just 12 times zones away, and on the exact other side of the planet, the challenge is too exciting to turn down. The CAO team and equipment travels to Kruger National Park and makes maps of savannas 3D structure and chemistry to assist conservation managers. The entire adventure opens the world up to their airborne program.

In preparation for future biodiversity mapping flights in the Amazon Basin, the Spectranomics team heads to the Peruvian lowlands to collect the world's first Amazon canopy library of species and their spectral-chemical properties. This sets in motion a worldwide tour of tropical canopies that will ultimately become the Spectranomics Database.

Two years of fieldwork culminate in the most comprehensive spectral library of tropical tree species ever assembled. Hundreds of species cataloged — their chemical fingerprints now readable from above. The ground truth is complete. Spectronomics can fly.

Heading into the highlands of Puerto Rico, the Spectranomics team adds Caribbean tropical trees to the global Database.

The Spectranomics team heads to southern Florida, known as the far northern reach of tropical forest canopy species to expand the Database.

The Spectranomics team packs up for Panama to collect canopy tree species for the Database. They climb more than 400 trees in the Panama Canal region and use canopy cranes to access some of the tallest trees in Central America.

State of Hawaiʻi decision-makers ask CAO to collect a wide range of data addressing biodiversity, invasive species, and forest carbon questions. This opens doors for more airborne science in support of government actions to protect the environment across the State of Hawaiʻi.

CAO maps carbon stocks across 4.3 million hectares of Peruvian Amazon at just 8 cents per hectare — proving airborne LiDAR is viable for national-scale carbon accounting.

CAO deployed to Kruger National Park. Mapping reveals how elephants and other megafauna shape the structural diversity of African savannas at landscape scale. Published in PNAS.

Asner and Martin publish 'Airborne spectranomics' in Frontiers in Ecology — naming and defining an entirely new scientific discipline. The science of reading molecular chemistry from the air now has a name.

The Spectranomics team travels to Monteverde to collect more than 400 canopy tree species for the Database.

In another first-ever, the CAO team flys from California to Peru to undertake a first 3D mapping of parts of the Peruvian Amazon. Using the CAO-1 laser and spectrometer package, the team images forests and converts the data to carbon stocks.

The Spectanomics team heads to the Amazonian village of Jenaro Herrera, famous for its species-rich forest canopy. They collect nearly 400 new canopy tree species for the Database.

The Spectranomics team breaks itss own record for the number of canopy tree species collected at one site - 561 - in one of the most remote jungles in the Amazon Basin.

The Spectranomics team heads uphill into the Peruvian Andes to reach treeline where watersheds feed the Amazonian lowlands. Another 274 species are collected for the Database.

The Spectranomics team heads into the remote jungle of the Osa Pennisula in Costa Rica. They set up base camp and climb hundreds of tall canopy trees, extending the Database to more species for future airborne applications.

The Spectranomics team, including team members based in Hawaii, California, and Peru, venture into the lowlands of Borneo to collect a new part of the plant kingdom. They collect 242 new species for spectral and chemical properties.

CAO returns to South Africa in a massive campaign to map the 3D structure of Kruger National Park. They discover the interactions and behavior of The Big Five - lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, and buffalo. All-new lion behavioral discoveries are made, setting the stage for Gregʻs Global TED Talk in 2012.

CAO jumps from the African mainland to Madagascar to map forest structure and lemur habitat in a region of high deforestation.

The Spectranomics team heads to the lowlands and montane tropical rainforests of Madagascar. While climbing and collecting foliage from hundreds of tree species, they run into a mining company systematically removing the forest. The team races to collect and catalog species doomed in the path of massive bulldozers.

The search for new tropical tree species takes the Spectranomics team to the southern Amazon.

The Spectranomics team treks into the Peruvian uplands where the Amazon meets the base of the Andes in search of more canopy tree species for the Database. They utilize old trucks, canoes, and long hikes and tree climbs to collect more than 800 new species.

The Spectranomics team goes on tour in Ecuador, starting in a montane bird sanctuary harboring 165 new tree species.

The team moves the operation to an treeline forest in the Ecuadorian Andes, collecting another 110 tree species.

They finish their Ecuadorian visit to the forest made famous by the Yasuni Indigenous tribe, who protect the forest at all costs. The team works with locals to collect 327 new tree species.

Greg connects with Blair Edlund, a Dornier 228 specialist. The Piper Navajo can't carry enough equipment. The Dornier's long rectangular cabin is ideal: 15 feet of gear up front, the rest is lab space. The upgrade begins.

Second-generation CAO launches with the first Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System (AToMS). Built with JPL, AToMS pairs a high-fidelity Visible-to-Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR) imaging spectrometer with dual-laser LiDAR — all packed into the Dornier 228.

CAO flies over FARC-controlled Colombian Amazon with all lights out to avoid ground fire. Military briefings, night-flying, ordnance visible below. President Santos flies aboard with fighter jet escort and Black Hawk helicopter.

CAO maps the Osa Peninsula, home to the largest intact lowland tropical forest on the Pacific coast of the Americas and a biodiversity mega-hotspot.

CAO-2 begins operations in Panama — one of several new mission locations enabled by the Dornier's greater range and payload capacity.

The Spectranomics field team continues scouring the Amazon for new tree species.

The CAO team maps forest carbon across rebel-controlled territory in the Colombian Amazon. The crew goes nocturnal in order to avoid daytime gunfire, flying with lights out using infrared lasers to map the forest canopy.

The Spectranomics Team joins forces with scientists from Oxford University and others to test the links between spectral, chemical, and ecological processes among trees along an Amazon to Andes elevation gradient.

The Smithsonian Institute hosts the CAO to map the rainforest and watersheds of the Panama Canel, driving new research on climate sensitivity of the world's most famous waterway.

The CAO team undertakes the first year of a three-year systematic mapping of the Peruvian Amazon and Andes region. Year-1 focuses on the southern third of the Amazon and Andes, collecting airborne data using their new AToMS sensor package.

CAO data reveals illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios expanded from less than 10,000 hectares to over 50,000 hectares. The true scale of destruction — invisible from the ground — is laid bare from the air.

In a third mapping of Kruger National Park, the team focuses on predator-prey interactions, carbon dynamics, and fire management.

The CAO team takes a day to map the remote rainforests of the Osa Penninsula, driving new international research on biodiversity and forest function.

The team returns to Panama to map the entire country in support of the country's UN commitment to climate change mitigation.

The team returns to the central Amazon, basing operations in the dusty town of Pucalpa. Operating from a remote airport, sleeping under the aircraft wing, weeks of operations yield new maps of the Amazon rainforest, carbon content, and biodiversity levels.

The team maps carbon stocks for 40% of the Colombian Amazon — 165,000 square kilometers. Published in Biogeosciences. Colombian President Santos remarks on the significance of the partnership.

The team maps Stanford's biological preserve along with numerous other coastal and inland Chapparel ecosystems in support of reesearch led by Stanford researchers.

In a second visit to the Colombian Amazon, the team again maps only at night using infrared lasers. Partway through the mission, the suffer a failure of an aircraft engine following a lightning strike. The team is grounded on a Colombian air force base for a month where they replace the engine in the field, complete the mission, and head home.

In another first, the Spectranomics team climbs trees in the lowland Amazon basin while the CAO flys overhead, calibrating each species to the spectrometer measurements taken from the aircraft.

CAO team delivers a 69-page report on Peru's rainforest carbon geography to the Ministry of the Environment. First high-resolution estimate: 6.83 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon.

Greg delivers a TED Talk explaining how the CAO reveals what forests are really made of. Kaleidoscopic fly-throughs of spectral data show species diversity invisible to the naked eye. Peru is the centerpiece.

The Spectranomics team travels to Africa to collect a database of African species. They scour the savannas and woodlands for new species, dodging lions and leopards, on the hunt for African biodiversity maps.

In a large coordinated international campaign involving numerous organizations, the Spectranomics team leads the exploration and collection of forest canopy trees species for climate change related research.

The team maps nearly all of the redwood forests of California, generating first-ever data on their massive carbon content and climate sensitivity.

Marking the first fully integrated field and airborne approach to biodiversity mapping, the Spectranomics team collects canopy specimens to calibrate CAO measurements taken using its newest airborne imaging spectrometer.

Returning to Peru for the frouth time since 2009, the team maps the entire northern region including ultra remote areas bordering Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. They ultimately discover an entirely new type of forest biodiversity that later becomes a new national park.

Asner et al. published in PNAS: targeted carbon conservation at national scales. Also released as a comprehensive report — The High-Resolution Carbon Geography of Peru.

Environmental Investigation Agency uses CAO data to expose a cacao producer clearing primary Amazon rainforest. CAO maps proved the area had the highest possible carbon density immediately before clearing.

The team maps Addo Elephant National Park in support of research and management focused on the carrying capacity of the part to house massive herds of elephants. They discover limits to the number of elephants that the park can protect before the habitat is trampled to death.

CAO returns to Kruger in search of millions of trees that went missing across the savanna landscape. They find that wood poachers have stolen the trees for firewood, a resource is critically low supply in impoverished communities around the park.

The team combines its mapping capability with a new approach to GPS tracking of male and female lions across a regional park in eastern South Africa. They discover how lions interact wth other predators such as wild dogs and hyenas, in shaping the savanna-woodland landscape.

Heading back to the lowland Amazon basin, the Spectranomics team tests the latest CAO spectral methods to identify tree species from the air.

As a direct result of CAO carbon mapping, Norway gives $300 million to Peru to protect its forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Data becomes policy at a scale rarely seen in conservation science.

CAO-3's first major domestic mission. Team flies California during the historic drought. Results in PNAS: 888 million trees show water loss, 58 million reach extreme stress. Giant sequoias studied in detail.

In a final visit to South Africa, the team combines airborne laser mapping with multi-species animal tracking to unveil the complex social interactions of predators and their prey.

The team remaps Addo Elephant National Park to test management approaches intended to boost elephant populations while reducing negative impacts on habitat and vegetation.

Third-generation CAO unveiled at Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California. $12 million in custom-built equipment aboard the Dornier. Described as the most advanced Earth mapping platform in the civil sector.

CAO scientists and engineers take to the lab and hangar to create a carbon-fiber interior, combined with advanced sensor systems, in preparation to explore the world.

Greg and two other Spectranomics leads, Raul Tupayachi and Felipe Sinca, journey to the most remote rainforest in all of Amazonia. At the virtually untouched border between Peru and Ecuador, the three collect more than 100 new tree species, analyzing spectral, chemical and phylogenetic properties.

The Spectranomics team heads into the Sierra Nevada mountains of California to answer the call for help from managers seeking to map and protect giant sequoia trees stressed by severe drought.

The team is home in Hawaii, mapping the spread of a virulent pathogen that takes out millions of Hawaii's keystone forest species. The maps reveal that invasive pigs are spreading the pathogen, thereby providing managers with a tactic to contain the fungus -- fencing.

Beyond the tallest trees, the Sabah campaign reveals 40% of the state's carbon stocks exist in unprotected forests. Data guides new conservation designations by the Sabah Forestry Department.

CAO deployed to map 'ōhi'a tree health across the Hawaiian Islands — tracking the spread of Rapid 'Ōhi'a Death, a devastating fungal disease. Spectral technology detects stressed trees before visible symptoms appear.

The UN funds CAO with a daunting mission to map Borneo in preparation for a new million-acre preserve to protect forest diversity including its iconic orangutans

CAO laser-scans Sabah's forests and discovers 50 trees breaking the world record for tallest tropical tree. The champion: 94.1 meters in Danum Valley. Crown diameter of 40 meters — half a football field. Helicopter verification funded by James Cameron.

The Spectranomics team unroots from the Amazon to the jungles of Borneo to collect 233 tree species for a new airborne mapping campaign designed to select and protect more than a million acres of rainforest.

A massive drought strangles California's forests, and the team is tasked with mapping the onset of forest canopy water stress to direct fire fighting and prevention actions

The Ecuadorian government hosts the team for a wall-to-wall mapping of the Amazon, known as the highest density of tree species on Earth

Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. partners with coral researcher Ruth Gates and Greg to build a global coral reef monitoring system using satellite imagery. Planet provides nanosatellite data. Allen funds approximately $9 million. The coral bleaching detection system is based on GAO technology.

Asner et al. published in Science: airborne laser-guided imaging spectroscopy to map forest trait diversity and guide conservation. All 78 million hectares of the Peruvian Amazon now mapped.

The team joins forces with conservationists to map Lighthouse Reef Atoll, home of The Blue Hole, where climate change and poaching threaten reef biodiversity

The team returns home to map natural resources and threats from ridge to reef in Hawaii

In a followup to the megadrought, the team maps biodiversity losses and finds refugia where native species survived

Following more than a decade of research on land that all started on Kauai, the Spectranomics team leaps to corals starting in their home waters of Miloliʻi, South Kona, Hawaii Island

The team flies more than 200 missions — the final year under the Carnegie name. A massive operational year spanning forests and reefs across multiple continents.

The Carnegie Airborne Observatory is renamed the Global Airborne Observatory as the program prepares to move to Arizona State University.

The Coral Spectranomics team ventures to the Great Barrier Reef, collecting more than 250 coral species for spectral and chemical analysis

Following the 2015 marine heatwave, the team assesses Hawaii's coral reefs and finds hope spots where they are surviving

Peru creates Yaguas National Park — directly informed by CAO carbon and biodiversity mapping. The park safeguards 102 million metric tons of carbon and potentially the highest fish diversity in Peru.

The team heads to the Virgin Islands in the eastern Caribbean to collect coral species for the Database

The team returns home to finish a complete inventory of coral species found in the Hawaiian islands.

Back to the central Caribbean, the Coral Spectranomics team completes the entirety of coral species found in that ocean basin

The team deploys to the Caribbean following the back-to-back hurricanes Irma and Maria to assess coral reef condition in support of restoration

The team maps coral reefs of the Dominican Republic in preparation for a new marine protected area

As time rolls one, the team monitors the recovery of Hawaii's corals four years after its 2015 marine heatwave

First comprehensive mapping of coral reefs along the Hawaiian Islands. GAO sees through seawater to 70 feet — mapping live coral, dead coral, algae, and 3D fish habitat across 700+ miles of shoreline.

Greg and the GAO team move to ASU. Named Professor and Director of the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science based in Hilo. The GAO becomes carbon-neutral through ASU's Carbon Project.

One last visit to the Southern Great Barrier Reef yields a topping off of coral species found on the world's longest reef system

Renamed Global Airborne Observatory, the GAO team begins a multi-year commitment to map climate changing methane emissions across the mainland U.S.

The GAO team returns home following a second marine heatwave in Hawaii, finding nearly 20% loss in some areas

Asner et al. in PNAS: large-scale mapping of live corals to guide reef conservation. Proves spectral imaging can distinguish live from dead coral at scale — a game-changer for reef conservation worldwide.

GAO joins the State of California intent on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions using our operational "map and cap" approach

Continuing across the country, the team finds methane leaks in city infrastructure including a pipe in a populated neighborhood

The team redeploys across the mainland U.S., starting in Texas to assess its methane emissions from oil industry infrastructure

The team heads back to California to map invasive grasses that generate fire in protected areas

Back in California, the team maps and delivers data on greenhouse gas emissions to the State government

In a first ever mapping, the team soars high above unknowing ships to reveal massive methane and carbon dioxide emissions from their exhaust stacks

The team flys east to map coal country, finding methane emission sources dotting the state of Pennsylvania

Another stop in Texas reveals that many past oil industry emissions persist and have not been capped.

Zipping back west, the team maps high-elevation methane missions across Colorado

The Allen Coral Atlas completes a comprehensive map of all the world's coral reefs — compiled from more than 2 million satellite images. The first global high-resolution coral reef map ever created.

A focus on water quality in the American South reveals multiple pollutants in patterns unseen until now.

A focus on water quality in the American South reveals multiple pollutants in patterns unseen until now.

Heading north, the team maps greenhouse gases from a wide range of sources

In a new twist, the team races from garbage dump to dump, revealing massive methane emissions that ultimately threaten coral reefs

Asner et al. in PNAS: mapped coral mortality and refugia in an archipelago-scale marine heat wave. Identifies reef refugia — places where corals survive thermal events — across the Hawaiian Islands.

GAO is contracted again to loiter in the sky over shipping, assessing methane and other missions from the world's seaward commerce

A return to Rocky Mountain methane emissions from mining, infrastructure, and cattle feed lots

Checking in on Texas, the team continues to find unaddressed methane emissions from the oil industry

Back east, the team maps New Yorks population-driven greenhouse gas emissions

Validation flights over Ohio in preparation for the Tanager satellite mission — building the airborne dataset needed to confirm the satellite's methane detection capabilities before launch.

In an unplanned opportunity, the team strikes at the Florida Keys, finding less than 3% remaining live coral cover following land pollution, disease, and marine heatwaves

GAO focuses on the creation of a new sea-air-land mapping method in preparation for new hyperspectral satellites.

GAO focuses on the creation of a new sea-air-land mapping method in preparation for new hyperspectral satellites.

GAO focuses on the creation of a new sea-air-land mapping method in preparation for new hyperspectral satellites.

GAO focuses on the creation of a new sea-air-land mapping method in preparation for new hyperspectral satellites

A pass through the Arizona desert reveals greenhouse gas emissions from cities, landfills, airports, and cattle feed lots

The preparation for the Tanager hyperspectral satellite begins with a ridge-to-sea mapping of California

Greg founds the 'Āko'ako'a Reef Restoration Program in collaboration with Hawai'i Division of Aquatic Resources and West Hawai'i communities. Fuses cultural leadership, education, science, and government engagement.

The team returns home to assess coral recovery following the 2015 and 2019 marine heatwaves

The team heads to cowboy country to check methane emissions from the coal industry

Airborne validation flights over California supporting the Tanager satellite mission — one of several regional campaigns building the ground-truth dataset ahead of global deployment.

Colorado campaign preparing for Tanager as launch date gets closer

More garbage dump mapping, the great state of Illinois is home to some of the highest methane emissions recorded

Preparations continue for the new Tanager satellite, with mapping flights to hone sea, air, and land algorithms

Oregon validation flights for the Tanager satellite mission — expanding the geographic range of the airborne dataset used to prepare the satellite for operational use.

Returning to Texas to support Tanager satellite validation — building on prior methane mapping campaigns in the region as part of the final push toward satellite launch.

The team goes home to support federal and state agencies with coral reef and water quality mapping following the severe destructive fires on Maui

Time for another coral checkup in Hawaii, where the team uncovers substantial regrowth of corals for the first time in five years

GAO flights focus on methane emissions in support of the upcoming Tanager satellite launch

GAO flights focus on methane emissions in support of the upcoming Tanager satellite launch

California land managers and scientists bring GAO back for more invasive weed mapping. Read the research: Mapping distribution patterns of invasive alien species in the Santa Monica Mountains using airborne imaging spectroscopy and line-point transect data.

For a nineth year of data, the team maps live coral across the State of Hawaiʻi to assess long-term change and the effects of different marine management approaches on reef condition.

The GAO's 20th anniversary year. Pacific 2026 launches as a comprehensive Pacific ecosystem survey — the culmination of two decades of airborne science.

With the new Tanager-1 hyperspectral satelliet in Earth orbit, the tam sets out with coordinated flights to assess the potential of the satellite to map terrestrial biodiversity, chemistry, and physiology.