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What are Aerosols?
Changing Global Cloudiness
Why Isn't Earth Hot as an Oven?
Changing Global Land Surface
The Roles of the Ocean in Climate Change
Unlike the other instruments aboard Terra, ASTER will not collect data continuously; rather, it will collect an average of 8 minutes of data per orbit. Two of its subsystems are tiltable (+/- 8.54 degrees), enabling it point and zoom (up to 15-meter resolution) in on targets of interest. Given its high resolution and ability to change viewing angles, ASTER will produce stereoscopic images, such as the 3-D terrain height shown in this animation. This 60 x 60 km scene, taken from an aircraft over Death Valley, CA, illustrates ASTER's capacity to provide detailed surface composition and structural information. The colors on the surface depict different surface materials--green areas are vegetated; blue areas are wet or have standing water; orange areas are iron-rich volcanic rocks; brown, pink, blue-gray areas are volcanic and sedimentary rocks.
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