September 12, 2001: US Geological Survey and NASA Discuss Scanning Ground Zero Dust to Determine Chemical Composition

Roger Clark, the astrophysicist who heads the US Geological Survey (USGS)‘s portion of the AVIRIS program in Denver, contacts Robert Green, head of the AVIRIS program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. (The AVIRIS, or Airborne Visible Infrared Spectrometer, is a remote-sensing unit used by NASA to determine the chemical composition of a planet’s surface and atmosphere by analyzing the infrared signatures of minerals that are reflected from the ground and comparing them with the unique peaks and curves of the signatures of thousands of minerals and materials in the USGS database. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/10/2002] AVIRIS has been used before to scan Superfund toxic sites to map hot spots of harmful substances.) [New York Times, 9/17/2002] He asks Green for NASA permission to use the AVIRIS over New York City and parts of New Jersey to determine the chemical composition of the dust and debris resulting from the collapse of the World Trade Center. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/10/2002] NASA gives the go-ahead on September 13 (see September 13, 2001).