MODIS, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, will initially be carried aboard the EOS-AM and EOS-PM satellites as part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The first satellite to carry MODIS is AM-1, named Terra, launched 18 December 1999. The MODIS scanner has 36 channels, covering those parts of the spectrum currently imaged by AVHRR and SeaWiFS plus a great deal more. Spatial resolution in channels 1 and 2 is sixteen times better than AVHRR or SeaWiFS and in channels 3 to 7 four times higher. All other channels are the same spatial resolution as AVHRR or SeaWiFS.
For a good example of the results from MODIS have a look at NASA's Blue Marble images and animations.
MODIS will be received and archived here at Dundee Satellite Receiving Station by a new system specially designed for the fast data rates and high volume of data.
We have a MODIS FAQ that should cover most of your questions.
For further information see NASA's MODIS home page
MODIS data will be distributed from Dundee in the HDF-EOS Level-1B format. For more details please see our MODIS FAQ document.
The downlink data format is documented in our MODIS Packet Format document.
CZCS, AVHRR SeaWiFS and MVISR channels are shown for comparison:
| Primary Use | Band | Bandwidth (nm) | Colour | CZCS | AVHRR | SeaWiFS | MVISR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land / Cloud Boundaries | 1 | 620 - 670 | red | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 841 - 876 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Land / Cloud Properties | 3 | 459 - 479 | aqua | 1 | |||
| 4 | 545 - 565 | green | |||||
| 5 | 1230 - 1250 | ||||||
| 6 | 1628 - 1652 | ||||||
| 7 | 2105 - 2155 | ||||||
| Ocean Color / Phytoplankton / Biogeochemistry | 8 | 405 - 420 | violet | 1 | |||
| 9 | 438 - 448 | aqua | 2 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 483 - 493 | blue | 3 | 8 | |||
| 11 | 526 - 536 | green | 2 | ||||
| 12 | 546 - 556 | green | 3 | 5 | 9 | ||
| 13 * | 662 - 672 | red | 4 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 14 * | 673 - 683 | red | |||||
| 15 | 743 - 753 | red | 5 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 16 | 862 - 877 | 8 | |||||
| Atmospheric Water Vapor | 17 | 890 - 920 | 10 | ||||
| 18 | 931 - 941 | ||||||
| 19 | 915 - 965 | ||||||
| Primary Use | Band | Bandwidth (µm) | CZCS | AVHRR | SeaWiFS | ||
| Surface / Cloud Temperature | 20 | 3.660 - 3.840 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 21 | 3.929 - 3.989 | ||||||
| 22 | 3.929 - 3.989 | ||||||
| 23 | 4.020 - 4.080 | ||||||
| Atmospheric Temperature | 24 | 4.433 - 4.498 | |||||
| 25 | 4.482 - 4.549 | ||||||
| Cirrus Clouds Water Vapor | 26 | 1.360 - 1.390 | |||||
| 27 | 6.535 - 6.895 | ||||||
| 28 | 7.175 - 7.475 | ||||||
| 29 | 8.400 - 8.700 | ||||||
| Ozone | 30 | 9.580 - 9.880 | |||||
| Surface/Cloud Temperature | 31 | 10.780 - 11.280 | 4 | 4 | |||
| 32 | 11.770 - 12.270 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Cloud Top Altitude | 33 | 13.185 - 13.485 | |||||
| 34 | 13.485 - 13.785 | ||||||
| 35 | 13.785 - 14.085 | ||||||
| 36 | 14.085 - 14.385 | ||||||
Resolution: Bands 1 and 2 are 250m resolution, bands 3 to 7 are 500m; the rest are 1km.
Bands 13 and 14 both have a high detector and a low detector, giving increased sensitivity.
Bands 21 and 22 cover the same part of the spectrum but have different saturation points. Channel 21 saturates at about 500 K, and channel 22 saturates at about 335 K. Channel 22 is also less noisy.
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