mongabay.com logo About  |   Contact  |  Mongabay on Facebook  |  Mongabay on Twitter  |  Free newsletter
Rainforests | Tropical fish | Environmental news | Blog | For kids | Madagascar | Photos | Non-English languages | Tropical Conservation Science
SHARE:
print


New NASA satellite captures Earth in its full daylight glory on a daily basis (image)
mongabay.com
December 21, 2011


VIIRS earth image.
 Image by NASA’s NPP Land Product Evaluation and Testing Element. Click image to enlarge.

NASA has released the first images from its new NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which captures images from the entire planet on a daily basis.

The NPP satellite, which launched October 28, 2011, includes a sensor known as the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). It is similar to the existing Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), but flies at a higher altitude (824 km) to capture the entire globe without gaps. The higher altitude has a tradeoff however — VIIRS's resolution is 375 meters per pixel, compared with 250 for MODIS.

Scientists plan to use VIIRS to capture a variety of measurements including ocean temperature, cloud movement, and locations of fires.

NPP was placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit, which, according to NASA "takes the satellite over the equator at the same local (ground) time in every orbit".
    When NPP flies over Kenya, it is about 1:30 p.m. on the ground. When NPP reaches Gabon—about 3,000 kilometers to the west—on the next orbit, it is close to 1:30 p.m. on the ground. This orbit allows the satellite to maintain the same angle between the Earth and the Sun so that all images have similar lighting.

    The consistent lighting is evident in the daily global image. Stripes of sunlight (sunglint) reflect off the ocean in the same place on the left side of every swath. The consistent angle is important because it allows scientists to compare images from year to year without worrying about extreme changes in shadows and lighting.
VIIRS is still operating in test mode. Once it begins full operations, the sensor will measure 22 different wavelengths of light, including thermal infrared light.












Related articles





CITATION:
mongabay.com (December 21, 2011). New NASA satellite captures Earth in its full daylight glory on a daily basis (image). http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1221-nasa_viirs.html


Tags:
remote sensing nasa Satellite Imagery technology green environment

print



Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home

Advertisements:





Mongabay Store
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant t-shirts
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog t-shirts
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog
Licking this frog may make you crazy t-shirts
Licking this frog may make you crazy




DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter


WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Email:


RECENT FEATURES
The camera trap revolutionThe camera trap revolution
New theory: forests are rainmakersNew theory: forests are rainmakers
Celebrate frogs on leap day!Celebrate frogs on leap day!
As Amazon deforestation falls, food production risesAs Amazon deforestation falls, food production rises


POPULAR PAGES
Rainforests
Rain forests
 Amazon deforestation
 Deforestation
 Deforestation stats
 Why rainforests matter
 Saving rainforests
 Amazon rainforest
 Congo rainforest
 Deforestation data
 Rainforest canopy
Special sections
New Guinea
Finding new species
Sulawesi
Madagascar
Borneo
REDD
News
Most popular articles
 Worth saving?
 Forest conservation
 Cell phones in Africa
 Seniors helping Africa
 Saving orangutans in Borneo
 Palm oil
 Amazon palm oil
 Future of the Amazon
 Cane toads
 Dubai environment
 Investing to save rainforests
 Visiting the rainforest
 Biomimicry
 Defaunation
 Blue lizard
 Extinction debate
 Extinction crisis
 Industrial deforestation
 Save the Amazon
 Rainforests & REDD
 Brazil's Amazon plan
 Avatar story
Amazon ranching
News topics
Amazon
Biofuels
Brazil
Carbon Finance
Conservation
Climate Change
Deforestation
Energy
Happy-upbeat
Indonesia
Interviews
Oceans
Palm oil
Rainforests
Wildlife
MORE TOPICS


Non-English Sites
Chinese
French
German
Indonesian
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Other languages

Nature Blog Network







Photos
Brazil photos
Brazil
 China photos
China
 Colombia photos
Colombia
Costa Rica photos
Costa Rica
 Deforestation photos
Deforestation
 Gabon photos
Gabon
India photos
India
 Indonesia photos
Indonesia
 Kenya photos
Kenya
Madagascar photos
Madagascar
 Peru photos
Peru
 Peru photos
Rainforest


ABOUT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com

CALENDARS


BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS
Rainforest book for kids Conservation in an age of mass extinction


FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER


HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS







Copyright mongabay 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect,
an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region.
Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.