Latest Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Stories

December 18, 2009, marks the tenth year since the launch of Terra, one of NASA's "flagship" Earth observing satellites. But the decade is more than just a mechanical milestone. With each additional day and year that the satellite monitors Earth, scientists achieve a lengthened record of Earth's vital signs. It's that record that helps scientists assess the health of Earth's ocean, land, and atmosphere, and determine how these systems are changing."Earth system science is a...

A national early warning system designed to assist land managers in rapidly detecting threats to forest health is featured in the cover article of the October 2009 issue of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS), the journal of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). The article, entitled "Toward a National Early Warning System for Forest Disturbances Using Remotely Sensed Canopy Phenology," describes the vision and progress of the...

Tropical forest loss accounts for an estimated 17% of global emissions of carbon dioxide. As part of a strategy to reduce these greenhouse gas fluxes to the atmosphere, the UNFCCC's Conference of the Parties 15 in Copenhagen is working to adopt a strategy for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the post-Kyoto climate treaty. For tropical nations to be effective in tracking and reporting their emissions reductions from forest management and conservation,...

NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites flew over Tropical Depression Nida and System 97W in the Western Pacific Ocean and noticed that one is fading while the other is powering up.The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies on NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of the two storms in one satellite pass. Nida still had a swirl to its clouds although the system has continued to weaken. On the visible imagery, System 97W currently appears as a rounded area of...

Authorities are asking residents in some parts of south Australia to evacuate their homes as an impending heat wave prompted the nation to issue its first "catastrophic" brush fire warning.Unseasonably hot and dry weather combined with strong winds to fan scores of blazes in the country's southeastern states, many of which were sparked by overnight lightning strikes.Nathan Rees, New South Wales state premier, says, "It has never been this hot, dry or windy in combination in...

Cyclone Phyan broke a 43 year record when it made landfall north of the city of Mumbai, India during the evening hours on November 11. NASA's Aqua satellite captured Phyan's landfall with one instrument, and a day later, another of Aqua's instruments show the storm's remnants raining Tibet as Phyan continues to dissipate.Phyan is the first tropical cyclone to make an appearance in November in the Konkan region of India since 1996. The India Meteorological Department confirmed that the last...

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Ida, and both have instruments aboard that show her clouds and rains are already widespread inland over the U.S. Gulf coast states. Infrared NASA satellite imagery revealed that Ida lost the "signature shape" of a tropical cyclone, and that the storm's clouds have already spread far to the north (over land) of its center of circulation.At 4 p.m. EDT on November 9, Tropical Storm Ida's maximum sustained winds...

NASA technology provides satellite moviesPeople love to get the big picture of hurricane alleys, and thanks to the GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., they can now get real-time satellite animations of the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.NASA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Project is offering real-time HDTV movies of the east- and west-coast "hurricane alley" regions. There are two types of movies for both the Eastern...

NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites flew over Super Typhoon Melor early today, October 5 and captured some impressive images of the storm's clouds on a track toward Japan. The Western Pacific Ocean has the edge on super typhoons, and Melor's maximum sustained winds near 161 mph are more proof.Typhoon Melor tracked through the channel between Saipan and Agrihan on Saturday night, and became a Super Typhoon on Sunday. Melor's winds dropped to 130 mph just before it passed near the island of Saipan...

Warnings have been posted in the extreme northeastern Philippines as Parma has powered up into a Super Typhoon, and its new forecast track takes it over the northeastern tip of the Philippines, and three NASA satellites are keeping tabs on it.Public storm warning signal 1 is in force in Camarines Norte & Sur and Catanduanes, the Philippines. Overnight, Parma's sustained winds increased to 149 mph (130 knots), just 7 mph shy of a Category 5 typhoon. Right now, Thursday, October 1 at 0900...