WASHINGTON DC – The vibrant turquoise seas of the Caribbean and a murky blanket of smog covering parts of Northern India are among the sights in the first global image produced by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new environmental satellite.
The composite photograph was produced by data collected over a 24-hour-period from December 5–6 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on board NOAA-21, which is part of the US space agency’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
The new polar-orbiting satellite, which observes the entire planet twice daily, was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California back on November 10 last year, and began collecting earth science data on December 5 as the craft passed over the United States’ east coast.
The VIIRS instrument — which provides global measurements of the atmosphere, land and oceans — was built by the aerospace firm Raytheon Intelligence & Space in El Segundo, California.
NASA JPSS project scientist Dr James Gleason said: “VIIRS serves so many disciplines, it’s an absolutely critical set of measurements.
“VIIRS provides many different data products that are used by scientists in unrelated fields, from agricultural economists trying to do crop forecasts, to air quality scientists forecasting where wildlife smoke will be, to disaster support teams who count night lights to understand the impact of a disaster.”
When over the world’s oceans, VIIRS takes measurements of sea surface temperature — a metric which is important in monitoring the formation of tropical cyclones — as well as ocean colour, which helps experts monitor phytoplankton activity, a key proxy for marine health.
To view more pictures, click on NOAA
