SeaWiFS: Northern Hemisphere, Southern Shadows - related image preview

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SeaWiFS: Northern Hemisphere, Southern Shadows - related image preview

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SeaWiFS: Northern Hemisphere, Southern Shadows

This SeaWiFS image of southern Florida and Cuba, captured on June 19, 2001, contains an interesting quirk. Many of the clouds in the area appear to have shadows along their sunward edges. The portion of the image where the sun is directly overhead at the time the data were collected is indicated in yellow - still slightly south of the Tropic of Cancer (marked with the dashed line).

These sunward shadows seem counterintuitive until one remembers that SeaWiFS is "looking" at the clouds from a position that is some 22 degrees south of zenith (i.e. south of the sun's position). The sensor is actually looking underneath the clouds that are north of their actual surface coordinates, so the shadows beneath the clouds appear to be south of the clouds in the image.


Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE

Published June 19, 2001
Data acquired June 19, 2001

Source:
OrbView-2 > SeaWiFS
Topic:
Radiance Or Imagery > Sensor Characteristics > Viewing Geometry
Collection:
Visible Earth