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Tag: Climate Variability and Change

Climate Variability and Change

Posted on by Nyssa Rayne Posted in News and Events

Spring is here — and so are the Terra science team meetings and workshops! Here’s a list of upcoming Team Meetings and Workshops related to the Terra mission, with additional information about each in the post below this list.

  • 2023 MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting
  • 2023 NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Science Team Meeting
  • CERES 38th Science Team Meeting
  • UCAR Remote Sensing Initiative Workshop
  • NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop

2023 MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting

The MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting will be held May 1- 4, 2023 at The Hotel at The University of Maryland. Registration will be available soon. Stay tuned to the MODIS Website for more information as it’s made available.

2023 NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Science Team Meeting 

NASA’s Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems (CC&E) focus area will be hosting the next Joint Science Workshop (JSW) on May 8-12, 2023 at The Hotel in College Park, MD. The first two days (May 8-9) will be LCLUC meeting with an emphasis on the early career scientists’ projects. Next two days will be joint meeting with other NASA Earth Science programs of the Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Focus Area at plenary sessions. For more information, visit the LCLUC Meeting website.

CERES 38th Science Team Meeting

The CERES 38th Science Team Meeting will be held May 9-11, 2023 at the Pearl Young Theater on the campus of Langley Research Center, Hampton VA. For more information and a PDF of the agenda, please visit the CERES website.

UCAR Remote Sensing Initiative Workshop

This new Initiative provides a focal point for UCAR satellite remote sensing instrumentation, data and science activities, and promotes collaboration across the organization. For more information on this event, visit the UCAR Remote Sensing Initiative website.

NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop

Image of the three satellites - Terra, Aqua, and Aura - with the following text: Request for Information to inform NASA's Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop

NASA recently released a new NASA Request for Information (RFI), seeking input from the science community and stakeholders on data product continuity needs, capabilities, and gaps as NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura missions reach the end of their operational life.

NASA will use these RFI responses to help plan a Terra/Aqua/Aura data continuity workshop. This workshop will determine needs, evaluate current capabilities, identify gaps, and specify potential actions for these missions. The Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop will be virtual and is currently scheduled for May 23-25, 2023, from 11am – 4pm Eastern Time.

For more information and updates, visit the NASA NSPIRES platform (linked above), review the full RFI PDF linked here, or see the following linked FAQ document.

Posted on by Nyssa Rayne Posted in News and Events

It’s been a busy summer for the MODIS instrument! Here are a few highlights you may have missed:

‣ On July 1st, our long-serving MODIS instrument lead, Dr. Michael King, officially retired. While we’re sad to see him go and wish him the best in his new adventures, we’re excited to introduce our new MODIS lead, Dr. Miguel Roman! Look for his updated bio on the Terra website soon.

‣ The NASA Land and Atmosphere data teams held meetings in May and June (you can find presentation materials and more info with this link to the MODIS newsfeed). 

‣ A brand new reprocessed MODIS cloud properties dataset that combines both Terra and Aqua data is now available for download and use. Find out more information in this informative post from the LAADS DAAC. 

‣ Check out these two recent research features on the Natural Capital Project (links here and here), a collaboration among scientists, farmers, and the luxury clothing industry. Terra MODIS vegetation index data products are being used as part of this effort to model future goat-grazing land use in order to benefit both farmers and the environment. Frequent sampling and wide area coverage of MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) dataset were leveraged and used as input for climate models, resulting in more sustainable land-use practices.

Posted on by Tassia Owen Posted in News and Events

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The Rains of Roanu

May 24, 2016 

Tropical Storm Roanu made landfall in Bangladesh, unleashing heavy winds and rain on the country’s populous coastal communities. On May 21, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image of the storm. Roanu progressed northeast over the Bay of Bengal before making landfall in Bangladesh.

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Early Breakup of the Beaufort Sea Ice 

May 20, 2016 

The Beaufort Sea ice pack starts to thin and break up in spring when temperatures begin to rise, usually in late May. However, much of the Beaufort Sea’s ice had already broken by mid-April. Images from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the progression in April in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

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Widespread Warmth Envelops Greenland 

May 18, 2016

Land surface temperature data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite shows a much warmer than average April in Greenland.

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Heat Fuels Fire at Fort McMurray

May 7, 2016 

Land surface data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer showed increased land surface temperatures near Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta, Canada, where a destructive wildfire burned.

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Heat Wave Hits Thailand, India

May 4, 2016

Land surface temperature map based on data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite shows a warmer than average Southeast Asia in April.

Posted on by Tassia Owen Posted in News and Events

April 26, 2016

A Sudden Color Change on Lake Kivu – The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra Satellite captured images of a whiting event in Lake Kivu. The seasonal event is stronger this year, giving Lake Kivu a milky color. 


April 22, 2016

Using Clouds to Map Life – A team of researchers are using cloud data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra Satellite to create detailed maps of cloud cover and variability. The team found that cloud cover could be an indicator and a better predictor of a songbird and flower’s range than temperature and precipitation.

April 17, 2016

Yellowstone National Park – Learn about Yellowstone National Park and view an image made possible by the Digital Elevation Model from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

April 14, 2016

Sierra Nevada Snowpack is Better, But not Normal – Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains dwindled over recent years; however, the winter of 2015-2016 and the strong El Nino provided a thicker and more extensive snowpack. Regardless, snow levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains were still below average. Images from NASA’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) clearly show the difference between years.

April 13, 2016

Antarctic Ice Shelf Sheds Bergs – The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra Satellite captured this striking image of the formation of two new icebergs as they broke away from the Nansen Ice Shelf into the Southern Ocean on April 7, 2016.

April 9, 2016

Greening Ascension Island – When Charles Darwin first visited Ascension Island it was barren, but with the assistance of Joseph Hooker in the 1800s plants were introduced and now cover much of this once bleak island. The image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emissions and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows the now green Ascension Island and it’s Green Mountain.

April 3, 2016

Pavlov Erupts Again – Pavlov Volcano, Alaska’s most active volcano, began erupting for the first time since November 2014. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites acquired images of the ash plume at 11:45 a.m on March 28, 2016.

Posted on by Tassia Owen Posted in News and Events

February 19, 2016
Ash Plume and Sea Ice Near Zhupanovsky – Since October, 2015 Zhupanovsky volcano in far eastern Russia has periodically been spewing ash into the atmosphere.  This MODIS image from February 13, 2016 shows an ash plume from Zhupanovsky volcano, which resulted in a code-red for air travel in the region.

Sea surface temperatures indicated that the warm "blob" has dissipated. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using microwave and infrared multi-sensor SST data from Remote Sensing Systems.

February 12, 2016
The Demise of the Warm Blob – Ocean surface temperatures, showed a warm “blob” off the northern United State’s coast. This cell of warm ocean water in the Pacific Ocean no longer is present, having lasted from the winter of 2013 through December of 2015.

February 17, 2016
Waves Above and Below the Water – The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired an image of wave patterns in the sky and in the water off the coast of Western Australia.

MODIS image of cloud streets over the Great Lakes.

February 11, 2016
Cloud Streets Over the Great Lakes – MODIS captured this image of cloud streets crossing the Great Lakes.

February 10, 2016
Snow in the Central U.S. – Snow from a blizzard blanketed parts of the Midwest. This image from Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured the snow that remained after the clouds cleared over Nebraska.

February 6, 2016
Open- and Closed-Celled Clouds over the Pacific – Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured in one image examples of two different types of convective clouds, open-celled and closed-celled.

February 5, 2016
Mount Erebus, Antarctica – Mount Erebus in Antarctica, thought to be the most southern volcano is still active. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emissions and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured images in visible and infrared, showing not just the volcano, but also the lava lake in its interior.

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February 3, 2016
Drought in Southern Africa – Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor are being used to track drought conditions in southern Africa, analyzing the effects of the current strong El Niño on vegetation.