&lt;p&gt;The goal of this project is to provide absolute radiometric and cross-calibrated spectral characterizations for G-LiHT and HyPlant.&amp;nbsp; The objectives are: (i) to provide instrument calibration / characterization immediately following the September 2013 flight campaign with the two instrument packages, NASA&amp;rsquo;s G-LiHT and ESA&amp;rsquo;s HyPlant; (ii) to prototype and evaluate the fusion of the cross-calibrated and co-registered G-LiHT/HyPlant data products; and (iii) to offer technical risk reduction to a GSFC proposal under development for the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 (EVS-2) program and for a ROSES proposal under review by the Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Program.&amp;nbsp; The timing for completion of this work is critical for inclusion as a technical risk mitigation in the EVS-2 proposal entitled &amp;ldquo;VegFUSION:&amp;nbsp; Assessing Plant Functional Diversity &amp;amp; Ecosystem Health&amp;rdquo; due January 2014.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The NASA /ESA joint campaign was conducted in the United Stated to allow the opportunity to bring together two unique airborne instrument packages for vegetation studies of carbon cycle dynamics and ecosystem health on the NASA UC-12B KingAir aircraft based at LaRC. The two airborne systems are: 1] the European one-of-a-kind high spectral resolution HyPlant package (PI, Uwe Rascher, Forschungszentrum J&amp;uuml;lich GmbH, J&amp;uuml;lich , Germany) that obtains cutting edge imagery of chlorophyll fluorescence emissions from vegetation as well as visible to shortwave infrared (VSWIR) reflectance; and 2] The NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center-sponsored G-LiHT (Goddard&amp;rsquo;s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal) package (PI, Bruce Cook, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA) that combines off-the-shelf sensors: two lidars, a high resolution visible to near infrared (VNIR) imager, and a thermal imager. This preparatory campaign will collect remote sensing airborne data of hyperspectral reflectance, fluorescence, thermal imagery, and lidar profiling measurements.&amp;nbsp; Along with ground-based data, these aircraft measurements will directly monitor the energy budget, actual (as opposed to potential) photosynthesis, stress level responses, and canopy structure of two experimental forests with instrumented flux towers located in North Carolina.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A key component of the success of these efforts is the ability to provide data relevant to science investigations, in a format that is readily comparable across sensor systems.&amp;nbsp; Accurate spectral response characterization of the imaging spectrometers employed here would provide the necessary knowledge to maximize use of the ultra-high resolution (&amp;lt;2 nm) data.&amp;nbsp; Absolute radiometric calibration traceable to a known standard would allow the sensor to be compared directly to data from other sensors permitting improved understanding of those sensors.&amp;nbsp; One of the original reasons for the development of SIRCUS was to characterize hyperspectral sensors to understand the stray light inherent to such systems that can hamper the spectral quality of the data. Successful implementation of the proposed task will demonstrate Goddard&amp;rsquo;s end-to-end capability to supply mission critical calibration/validation in support of a NASA HQ sponsored collaboration with the European Space Agency.&lt;/p&gt;