One of the most important ecological issues concerning our planet is climate change. It is generally agreed that the Earth's climate will modify in response to radiative forcing induced by changes in atmospheric trace gases, cloud cover, cloud type, solar radiation, and tropospheric aerosols (liquid or solid particles suspended in the air). Clouds and aerosols both play a major role in climate since both affect, and are affected by, terrestrial and ocean dynamics. In order to develop conceptual and predictive global climate models, it is vital to monitor these properties. However, up to this point in time, monitoring changes in these parameters on a global scale has been difficult.

The Solution

Two MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments, the first launched on 18 December 1999 onboard the Terra Platform and the second on 4 May 2002 onboard the Aqua platform, are uniquely designed (wide spectral range, high spatial resolution, and near daily global coverage) to observe and monitor these and other Earth changes.

The Process

The MODIS Atmosphere Discipline Group is developing remote sensing algorithms for deriving time-series data products pertaining to cloud and aerosol properties and distribution. These products will also be used as input for generating additional data products for the MODIS Land and MODIS Ocean Groups, as well as other EOS instrument (e.g., CERES and MISR) teams. Ultimately, these products will be integrated by the Earth science community into conceptual and predictive global system models of our changing planet.

PRODUCTS