An ongoing NASA study of Earth and its ecosystems finally has landed in the islands, with dozens of scientists focusing their attention on a couple of high-profile natural phenomena Hawaii is famous for: corals and volcanoes.

NASA-led science teams are investigating the volcanoes of Hawaii island and the coral reefs that stretch up and down the island chain, from the Big Island to Midway Atoll, in an effort to better understand the health of the under- water ecosystems as well as volcanic processes and hazards.

The Hawaii campaign, which started Jan. 19 and continues through the end of this month, is aimed at providing data for NASA’s Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) satellite mission to study Earth ecosystems and natural hazards such as volcanoes, wildfires and drought.

The scientists are gathering baseline data from the ground, in the water, high in the sky and in space.

Using a high-altitude ER-2 aircraft from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, Calif., scientists have been studying other ecoystems and natural phenomena with the infrared imager on the mainland for the last couple of years. The ER-2 is the scientific research derivative of the U-2 spy plane.

While in Hawaii, the sleek aircraft that flies at 65,000 feet will be based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.

On Wednesday NASA invited the press to take a firsthand look at the plane.

“Today we flew over Kauai and then down over Maui and then over to the Big Island, the west coast,” said Michael Mercury, Jet Propulsion Laboratory systems engineer.

At high altitude, the aircraft is flying above 95 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere and will closely replicate the data a future satellite could collect, officials said.

The instruments onboard are designed to measure reflected sunlight and heat emitted from Earth, offering accurate information on the planet’s surface compo- sition, types of gases and temperature.

One of the primary instruments onboard is the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), developed by NASA’s JPL in Pasadena, Calif.

Officials hope to put similar sensor technology on the HyspIRI satellite, which is tentatively scheduled for launch into space around 2025.

This week, a Gulfstream aircraft from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston is expected to join the Hawaii mission, carrying JPL’s Glacier and Land Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN) instrument, which will collect high-resolution data to measure topographic changes from Kilauea’s lava flows.

Meanwhile, scientists from NASA, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and several universities are conducting a variety of volcano-related studies, including looking at vog, links between volcanoes and plants, the flow of lava from the volcanoes, thermal anomalies, gas plumes and ways to help avoid volcanic hazards.

JPL scientist Vincent Realmuto said he’s hoping his study of volcanic gases will help improve the accuracy of vog forecasts in the islands.

As for the coral reefs, a handful of scientists are leading teams across Hawaii to collect data in the water, said Steven Ackleson of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

“It’s the largest area of coral reef in U.S. waters,” he said. “In terms of coral reef assets, it’s our primary asset.”

Ackleson said Hawaii is a “wonderful” place to conduct the study because of all the logistical support.

The data collected, he said, will help the infrared imager identify the health of corals from space.