Terra Aqua Satellite Images

Designed and built in the 1980s and 90s nasa and lockheed martin engineers set out to build a satellite that could take simultaneous measurements of earth s atmosphere land and water.

Terra aqua satellite images.

Terra s orbit around the earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning while aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Historical imagery is sourced from microsoft and esri. Aqua latin for water is a nasa earth science satellite mission named for the large amount of information that the mission is collecting about the earth s water cycle including evaporation from the oceans water vapor in the atmosphere clouds precipitation soil moisture sea ice land ice and snow cover on the land and ice. Aqua s sister satellite terra began broadcasting selected portions of modis instrument data on x band on march 17 2000.

Register an earthdata login to start downloading data. Terra aqua modis modis or moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer is a key instrument aboard the terra eos am and aqua eos pm satellites. The twin modis design was aimed to optimize cloud free imaging while minimizing the optical effects of shadows and glare that occur with morning and afternoon sunlight. Both terra and aqua modis instruments view the entire earth s surface every 1 to 2 days acquiring data in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelengths from 0 4 µm to 14 4 µm.

Nasa noaa satellite suomi npp and modis aqua and terra provide continuous imagery for am at local 10 30am and pm at local 1 30pm. Nasa noaa satellite suomi npp and modis aqua and terra provide continuous imagery for am at local 10 30am and pm at local 1 30pm. For 20 years terra the flagship earth observing satellite has chronicled changes on earth. Daily imagery is provided by services from nasa s gibs part of eosdis.

Data outages and known issues. Historical imagery is sourced from microsoft and esri. As this rapid response image and information provision capability became more visible news organizations began requesting custom geo referenced images for large newsworthy events. The broadcast is continuous with following exceptions.

Modis or moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer is a key instrument aboard the terra originally known as eos am 1 and aqua originally known as eos pm 1 satellites. Subscribe to the lance users mailing list to receive general updates about lance. Interruption lasts about 5 minutes once per orbit. During the time aqua is dumping its play back data which lasts about 15 minutes once per orbit.

Terra s orbit around the earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning while aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Select near real time products from the tables below. If you wish to receive information about specific instrument data issues subscribe to the relevant list s.