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The purpose of this study was to asses the utility of a Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) snapshot imager for remote sensing applications. The snapshot imager is made possible by the utilization of a color filter array that selectively allows different wavelengths of light to be collected on separate pixels of the focal plane in same fashion as a typical Bayer array in visible portion of the spectrum [1]. Recent technology developments have made this possible in the LWIR [2]. The primary focus of the study is to develop a band selection technique that is capable of identifying both the optimal number and width of the spectral channels. Once selected, the theoretical sensor performance is used to evaluate the usefulness in a typical remote sensing application.

The increasing demand for natural gas could increase the number and frequency of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker imports and exports at ports across the United States. Because of the increasing number of shipments and the number of possible new facilities, concerns about the potential safety of the public and property from an accidental, and even more importantly intentional spills, have increased. While improvements have been made over the past decade in assessing hazards from LNG spills, the existing experimental data is much smaller in size and scale than many postulated large accidental and intentional spills. Since the physics and hazards from a fire change with fire size, there are concerns about the adequacy of current hazard prediction techniques for large LNG spills and fires. To address these concerns, the United States (US) Congress funded the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2008 to conduct a series of laboratory and large-scale LNG pool fire experiments at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This report presents the test data and results of two types of fire experiments. A series of four reduced-scale (gas burner) tests (yielding 22 sets of data) were conducted in 2007 and 2008 at Sandia"s Thermal Test Complex (TTC) to assess flame height to fire diameter ratios as a function of nondimensional heat release rates for extrapolation to large-scale LNG fires. The large-scale LNG pool fire experiments were conducted in a 120 m diameter pond specially designed and constructed in Sandia"s Area III large-scale test complex. Two fire tests of LNG spills on water producing pools of 21 and 83 m in diameter were conducted in 2009 to improve the understanding of flame height, smoke production, and burn rate and therefore the physics and hazards of large LNG spills and fires. 4

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