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Project Overview
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, is an earth observation system carried on two satellites: Terra (launched 1999) and Aqua (2002). It provides complete global imagery on a near-daily basis, at a spatial resolution of 250m-1000m. These data provide an ideal source for regional-scale environmental monitoring.
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Data from MODIS are improving our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans and Great Lakes, and in the lower atmosphere. Each day, MODIS data are transmitted from the Terra and Aqua satellites to a network of ground receiving stations, including one at the University of Wisconsin's Space Science and Engineering Center (UW SSEC). Within a few hours of collection, the images are freely available for downloading over the Internet. They can be used with any software able to read files in the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF).
MODIS operates in 36 bands in the visible, short-wave infrared, and thermal infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, at spatial resolutions of 250m, 500m, and 1000m depending on the band number. In addition to the raw image data, a large number of derived products are available through the EOS Data Gateway. These products were developed by the MODIS Science Team, with expertise from the atmospheric, ocean, and land remote sensing communities.
In the Upper Midwest region, applications of MODIS images range from monitoring the spatial and temporal dynamics of water quality in large lakes, to agricultural crop inventories.
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