What is MODIS?
MODIS stands for MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. The MODIS instrument is on board NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. The orbit of the Terra satellite goes from north to south across the equator in the morning and Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon resulting in global coverage every 1 to 2 days. The EOS satellites have a ±55 degree scanning pattern and orbit at 705 km with a 2,330 km swath width. For an artist’s visualization of “MODIS scans the globe” go to: http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/viz/media/aqua_modis_soren.mov. (Higher resolution movie files can be found at:http://aqua.nasa.gov/about/instrument_modis.php). The MODIS instrument provides 36 spectral bands from wavelengths of 0.4µm to 14.4µm. For more information, please visit the NASA MODIS website.
