Southeast United States

This spectacular, wide-angle view of the southern United States was made from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra satellite and Aqua satellites. The eastern half of the scene was captured by Terra MODIS at 11:20 a.m Eastern time, while the western half was captured by Aqua MODIS at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. The calibration of the two MODIS instruments is so accurate that it is possible to stitch together separate passes from each instrument into a virtually seamless image. Were there significant differences in the instruments’ calibration, geolocation, or surface reflectance, an image of this high of quality would not be possible.

The scene shows the southeastern United States from southeastern Kansas in the north to the Florida Keys in the south and from the middle of Texas in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east. The image is mostly cloud-free over land, with the exception of parts of Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, and all of West Virginia. A number of major land features are visible in the image, including the great Appalachian Mountain Range (upper right), the mighty Mississippi River (middle), the brilliant blue waters of the Bahamas and Florida Keys (bottom right), and the UNESCO World Heritage site Everglades National Park on Florida's southern tip.

There are a couple of clues to the fact that this is a composite image; the most revealing is the clouds, which reveal the line between the two overpasses. There is a sharp edge along the center of the image, since clouds change size, shape, and distribution very rapidly, and won't look the same in the morning as they do in the afternoon. The two separate images used to make this composite are available in the series as well.

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Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published November 8, 2002
Data acquired November 7 - 7, 2002

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collections:

MODIS Rapid Response

Visible Earth