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Land Surface Temperature at Night

Dataset Summary

Agency	National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Sub-Agency
Category	Science and Technology
Date Released	15-Jan-2010
Date Updated	15-Jan-2010
Time Period	Various
Frequency	hourly
Description	MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. Terra's orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning, while Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS are viewing the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days, acquiring data in 36 spectral bands, or groups of wavelengths (see MODIS Technical Specifications). This map shows the temperature of Earth's lands during the nighttime. Temperature is a measure of how warm or cold an object is. During the day, the Sun's rays warm Earth's lands. At night, the lands typically cool off. Landscapes cool off at night because they release their warmth to air above while they are no longer receiving sunlight. Scientists can measure the temperature of Earth's lands from space using instruments carried on satellites. Scientists want to know the land's temperature for many important reasons. For example, in places where it is too hot or too cold food crops may die. Temperature also influences weather and climate patterns. So, mapping the temperature of Earth's lands helps scientists to better understand our world. The colors on these maps represent temperature patterns of the top millimeter (or skin) of the land surface including bare land, snow or ice cover, urban areas, and cropland or forest canopy as observed by MODIS in clear-sky conditions for the time period indicated. Yellow shows the warmest temperatures (up to 45°C) and light blue shows the coldest temperatures (down to -25°C). Black means "no data." (more)

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Number of Downloads

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Dataset Information

Data.gov Data Category Type	Raw Data Catalog
Specialized Data Category Designation	Research
Keywords	land surface, solid earth, temperature, climate, night temperature, NASA, GSFC, Goddard, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Unique ID	1622

Contributing Agency Information

Citation	http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html?group=51
Agency Program Page	http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Agency Data Series Page	http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html?group=51

Dataset Coverage

Unit of Analysis	Science and Technology
Granularity	Global
Geographic Coverage	Global

Data Description

Collection Mode	satellite imagery
Data Collection Instrument	http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Data Dictionary/Variable List

Additional Dataset Documentation

Technical Documentation	http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/
Additional Metadata

OMB Control No. 3090-0284