The document outlines the development and objectives of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), an essential instrument for NASA's Earth Observing System, launched aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites for monitoring global environmental changes. It provides detailed information on the design, capabilities, and applications of MODIS, including how its data is processed and made available to users worldwide. Specifically, it highlights the significance of MODIS in analyzing terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic conditions, emphasizing its utility in fire detection and monitoring through real-time data applications.

1. PREPARED BY:
Uttam Pudasaini
1/21/2014
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2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Background
Introduction
Launch Objectives
Design Concepts
Focal Plane
Major Band Of MODIS Sensor
MODIS PRODUCTS
Receiving station of MODIS
 Receiving station at ICIMOD ,NEPAL
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3. A SHORT HISTORY
 1983 – NASA began to explore the concept of a polar-orbiting platform to
complement a manned polar-orbiting space station
 Beginning as System Z, gained momentum with NASA’s proposed “Global
Habitability” program
 After Challenger disaster, polar space station disappeared as did manned
servicing requirement
 System Z became EOS – Earth Observing System
 Several instrument suites were developed
 Surface Imaging and Sounding Package (SISP) included the Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
 MODIS soon split into 2 concepts
 MODIS-N focused primarily on land and atmosphere sensing but included
some ocean bands
 MODIS-T (tilting) focused on ocean
 Due to budget constraints, MODIS-T vanished, replaced by MODIS-N
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4. INTRODUCTION
 The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS), one of the key instruments for NASA’s Earth
Observing System (EOS), was built by Raytheon Santa
Barbara Remote Sensing (SBRS)
 MODIS Proto Flight Model (PFM) was launched on board
Terra spacecraft on 12/18/99 (first light on 02/24/00).
 http://terra.nasa.gov
 MODIS Flight Model 1 (FM1) on Aqua spacecraft was
launched on 05/04/02 (first light on 06/24/02)
 http://eos-pm.gsfc.nasa.gov
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5. Contd…
 MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) is an
imaging instrument flying at an altitude of 705 km on two
satellites in NASA’s Earth Observing System: Terra and Aqua.
 Two sun-synchronous, near-polar orbiting satellites called Terra
(EOS AM-1) and Aqua (EOS PM-1) each carry a MODIS sensor
 Terra orbits from south to north with a morning equatorial crossing.
 Aqua orbits from north to south with an afternoon equatorial crossing
 Flying on two satellites allows it to image the same area at
different times of the day as well as cover the entire earth in
one or two days.
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6. MODIS SCAN CAVITY AND OBCS
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7. LAUNCH OBJECTIVES
 Unprecedented look at
terrestrial, atmospheric,
ocean
and
phenomenology for a wide and diverse
community of users throughout the world.
 To develop a valid global, interactive Earth system models able to
predict global change accurately enough to assist policy makers
in making sound decisions concerning the protection of our
environment
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9. DESIGN CONCEPTS
 The Scan Mirror Assembly uses a continuously rotating double-sided
scan mirror to scan 55-degrees
 The MODIS instrument consists of a cross-track scan mirror,
collecting optics and individual detector elements.
 The swath dimensions of MODIS are 2330km (across track) by 10km
(along track at nadir).
 The along track swath dimension is due to the optical set-up as well
as the scanning mechanism of MODIS.
 In contrast to other scanning sensors like e.g. AVHRR, MODIS is
observing within one scan ten lines of 1km spatial resolution (40 lines
of 250m resolution and 20 lines of 500m resolution, respectively).
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10. MODIS FOCAL PLANE
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11. Major Bands of MODIS Sensors
 MODIS reflectance products focuses on Red, Blue, NIR AND MIR
 Red band highly related with plant growth- to calculate EVI(enhanced)
AND NDVI
 Blue band
 Shortest and nosiest band to monitor atmospheric dust and other
particles travelling across the globe
 Eliminating atmospheric noise on the calculation of vegetation
indices
 The bands help monitor changes in vegetation ,soil and atmosphere
that can influence in calculation of ecosystem variables like
vegetation indices
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NIR to visualize land and water (land reflects it while water bodies
almost absorb it all)
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MIR band to determine cloud properties vegetation and soil moisture
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13. CONTD…
 Its coarse spatial resolution is designed to observe land, ocean,
and atmospheric conditions at a regional and global scale.
 The MODIS instrument provides high radiometric sensitivity (12
bit) in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 µm to
14.4 over a 2330 km swath.
 20 Reflective Solar Bands (RSB): 0.4 - 2.2 microns
 16 Thermal Emissive Bands (TEB) 3.5 - 14.5 microns
 Bands are imaged at a nominal resolution of 250 m at nadir, with
five bands at 500 m, and the remaining 29 bands at 1 km.
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14. MODIS PRODUCTS
 Availability of a suite of products ranging from raw images to
highly processed products such as vegetation indices.
 Products are made on varying temporal schedules, some of
which are made as often as daily and every 8 days.
 Products are all archived and available, usually at no charge.
 MODIS products are organized into different processing
levels.
 Level 0 products are raw digital number images.
 Level 1 products include raw radiance and calibrated
radiance images. .
 Level 2 and 3 products have more processing and are
derived from lower level products.
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15. WHERE TO GET MODIS PRODUCTS???
 Level 1 and atmosphere products are available through the
Level 1 and Atmospheric Archive and Distribution System
(LAADS). http://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/
 Level 2 and 3 Land Products are available through Nasa’s
Warehouse Inventory Search Too (WIST) and the Land
Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC) Data
Pool at the U. S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center
(EDC). https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/get_data
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16. RECEIVING STATION
 MODIS on board the Terra and Aqua spacecraft have the
feature of Direct Broadcast capability together with an on
board data storage and a transmission capability initiated by a
ground command.
 Direct Broadcast means that all raw data collected on board
are immediately transmitted to ground.
 Everybody on the world can listen to the downloaded data
whenever the satellite is above their horizon assuming
appropriate hard- and software equipment.
 An Overpass Predictor delivered by NASA can be used to
determine when there will be a TERRA / AQUA spacecraft
overpass. More than 50 stations world-wide are now in
operation for receiving MODIS data by Direct Broadcast.
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17. MODIS receiving station at
ICIMOD,NEPAL
MODIS, a sensor onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua
satellites, includes the mid-infrared, allows the
application to identify the locations of thermal
anomalies, and thus active fires.
The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System
application uses real-time data downloaded by
ICIMOD's MODIS receiving station.
The application also adds key information from
SERVIR-Himalaya, including administrative unit
(i.e., district), protected area identification, land
cover, elevation, and slope, as well as road network
data.
The MODIS data, with ancillary data, are used to
identify the affected areas, provide district-level
fire count statistics, and provide information such
as the distance to the nearest road.
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The user can overlay the MODIS data with, for
example, the land cover data, to assess the damage
caused by the forest fire. A key feature of this
application is its ability to send fire alerts via
SMS/text message and/or emails to fire officials on17
their mobile telephones.

18. References
 http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
 http://www.icimod.org/?q=10092
 Images used in my slides are snapshots from presentation slides of
different individuals
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