NASA alert as Russian and US satellites crash in space A privately owned US communications satellite collided with a defunct Russian military satellite in the first such mishap in space

MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Launched by NASA in 1999 on the Terra (EOS AM) satellite, and in 2002 on the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite. 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 µm to 14.4 µm and at spatial resolutions between 250m and 1km. Terra: 10.30am descending Aqua: 1.30pm ascending Swath: 2330 km Earth covered every 1-2 days Designed to combine some of the characteristics of AVHRR and Landsat TM plus atmospheric and cloud parameters

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD

Indiana spring floods http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/

Retreat of the Ellesmere Island Ice shelf http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Ellesmere

MODIS bands and wavelengths

MODIS THEMES

MODIS Land Products / Research Themes Energy Balance Product - Surface Reflectance Land Surface Temperature BRDF/Albedo Snow Cover Vegetation Parameters Vegetation Indices LAI/FPAR NPP/PSN Land Cover Land Use Land Cover Vegetation Continuous Fields Vegetation Cover Change Fire and Burned Area Global Water Cycle and Energy Balance Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems and the Global Carbon Cycle Land Cover and Land Use Change Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols

MODIS : available data

MODIS Fires, NW Australia, Oct 2, 2000 MODLAND/Justice et al http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov

AVHRR (3.45am) MODIS (10.30am) MODLAND/Justice et al Oct 2, 2000

CCRS scientists have produced the first-ever, high resolution, circumpolar satellite image by compositing cloud-free images from the MODIS sensor http://ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/optic/coarse/modis_e.php Vegetation – see also: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/services/landcoverchange/modis.shtml

Percent tree cover map of the U. S. from 250 meter MODIS data 0% 100% Overcome fixed boundaries between classes inherent in classification approach Independent of strict class type definitions Possible to apply temporally to identify changes in % cover Derived from MODIS imagery with calibration and validation from high resolution data 500 km Percent tree cover map of the U. S. from 250 meter MODIS data using maximum NDVI composite for summer 2000 acquisitions MODLAND/Townshend et al

Land cover http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=22585

32 day composite: bands 1-7, 700mb (landcover.org):

Feb-March

GPP: The rate at which light energy is converted to plant biomass is termed primary productivity. The sum total of the converted energy is called gross primary productivity (GPP)

MODIS GPP Product MODLAND/Running et al.

MODIS THEMES http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/ MODIS / ASTER assignment due March 24

MODIS – snow: Thursday 10 March, Joe Shea