Table 3.1 Overall characteristics of the MODIS instrument on the NASA Earth Observing
System (EOS) Aqua and Terra spacecrafts
Orbit:
705 km, 10:30 a.m. descending node or 1:30 p.m. ascending node, sunsynchronous, near-polar, circular
Scan rate:
20.3 rpm, cross track
Swath dimensions:
2,330 km (across track) by 10 km (along track at nadir)
Telescope:
17.78 cm diam. off-axis, afocal (collimated), with intermediate field stop
Size:
1.0 Â 1.6 Â 1.0 m
Weight:
250 kg
Power:
225 W (orbital average)
Data rate:
11 Mbps (peak daytime)
Quantization:
12 bits
Spatial resolution:
250 m (bands 1–2)
(at nadir):
500 m (bands 3–7), 1,000 m (bands 8–36)
Design life:
5 years
Primary use
Band
Bandwidth
a
Spectral radiance
b
Required SNR
c
Land/cloud boundaries
1
620–670
21.8
128
2
841–876
24.7
201
Land/cloud properties
3
459–479
35.3
243
4
545–565
29.0
228
5
1,230–1,250
5.4
74
6
1,628–1,652
7.3
275
7
2,105–2,155
1.0
110
Ocean color phytoplankton
biogeochemistry
8
405–420
44.9
880
9
438–448
41.9
838
10
483–493
32.1
802
11
526–536
27.9
754
12
546–556
21.0
750
13
662–672
9.5
910
14
673–683
8.7
1,087
15
743–753
10.2
586
16
862–877
6.2
516
Atmospheric water vapor
17
890–920
10.0
167
18
931–941
3.6
57
19
915–965
15.0
250
Primary use
Band Bandwidth
a
Spectral radiance
b
Required NEAT (K)
d
Surface/cloud temperature 20
3.660–3.840
0.45
0.05
21
3.929–3.989
2.38
2.00
22
3.929–3.989
0.67
0.07
23
4.020–4.080
0.79
0.07
Atmospheric temperature 24
4.433–4.498
0.17
0.25
25
4.482–4.549
0.59
0.25
Cirrus clouds
26
1.360–1.390
6.00
150
e
Water vapor
27
6.535–6.895
1.16
0.25
28
7.175–7.475
2.18
0.25
29
8.400–8.700
9.58
0.05
(continued)
34
V.V. Salomonson and X. Xiong
System (EOS) Aqua and Terra spacecrafts
Orbit:
705 km, 10:30 a.m. descending node or 1:30 p.m. ascending node, sunsynchronous, near-polar, circular
Scan rate:
20.3 rpm, cross track
Swath dimensions:
2,330 km (across track) by 10 km (along track at nadir)
Telescope:
17.78 cm diam. off-axis, afocal (collimated), with intermediate field stop
Size:
1.0 Â 1.6 Â 1.0 m
Weight:
250 kg
Power:
225 W (orbital average)
Data rate:
11 Mbps (peak daytime)
Quantization:
12 bits
Spatial resolution:
250 m (bands 1–2)
(at nadir):
500 m (bands 3–7), 1,000 m (bands 8–36)
Design life:
5 years
Primary use
Band
Bandwidth
a
Spectral radiance
b
Required SNR
c
Land/cloud boundaries
1
620–670
21.8
128
2
841–876
24.7
201
Land/cloud properties
3
459–479
35.3
243
4
545–565
29.0
228
5
1,230–1,250
5.4
74
6
1,628–1,652
7.3
275
7
2,105–2,155
1.0
110
Ocean color phytoplankton
biogeochemistry
8
405–420
44.9
880
9
438–448
41.9
838
10
483–493
32.1
802
11
526–536
27.9
754
12
546–556
21.0
750
13
662–672
9.5
910
14
673–683
8.7
1,087
15
743–753
10.2
586
16
862–877
6.2
516
Atmospheric water vapor
17
890–920
10.0
167
18
931–941
3.6
57
19
915–965
15.0
250
Primary use
Band Bandwidth
a
Spectral radiance
b
Required NEAT (K)
d
Surface/cloud temperature 20
3.660–3.840
0.45
0.05
21
3.929–3.989
2.38
2.00
22
3.929–3.989
0.67
0.07
23
4.020–4.080
0.79
0.07
Atmospheric temperature 24
4.433–4.498
0.17
0.25
25
4.482–4.549
0.59
0.25
Cirrus clouds
26
1.360–1.390
6.00
150
e
Water vapor
27
6.535–6.895
1.16
0.25
28
7.175–7.475
2.18
0.25
29
8.400–8.700
9.58
0.05
(continued)
34
V.V. Salomonson and X. Xiong