Images
December 21, 2020 - New Zealand
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On December 15, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) passed over New Zealand and acquired a true-color image of the North Island surrounded by cloud and sunglint.
New Zealand sits in the South Pacific Ocean roughly 1,250 miles (2,000 km) southeast of Australia. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is located on the southern tip of the North Island, looking across Cook Strait toward South Island. At the narrowest point, Cook Strait measures only 14 mi (22 km) wide.
North Island wears the many shades of green typical of the island as summer approaches, while white clouds cover the ocean not far offshore. A broad streak of silvery-gray sits over the Tasman Sea—a marginal sea of the South Pacific that spans the space between New Zealand and Australia. Known as “sunglint”, the gleam is an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of the water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it, resulting in a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 12/15/2020
Resolutions:
1km (145.6 KB), 500m (492.7 KB), 250m (1.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
On December 15, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) passed over New Zealand and acquired a true-color image of the North Island surrounded by cloud and sunglint.
New Zealand sits in the South Pacific Ocean roughly 1,250 miles (2,000 km) southeast of Australia. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is located on the southern tip of the North Island, looking across Cook Strait toward South Island. At the narrowest point, Cook Strait measures only 14 mi (22 km) wide.
North Island wears the many shades of green typical of the island as summer approaches, while white clouds cover the ocean not far offshore. A broad streak of silvery-gray sits over the Tasman Sea—a marginal sea of the South Pacific that spans the space between New Zealand and Australia. Known as “sunglint”, the gleam is an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of the water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it, resulting in a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 12/15/2020
Resolutions:
1km (145.6 KB), 500m (492.7 KB), 250m (1.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
