You ’re looking at a incision of the first image to be compiled from mensuration made by the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite ( VIIRS ) onboard NPP — NASA ’s new dry land - observing satellite . ( In lawsuit you were question , “ NPP ” is the drastically shortened acronym for the agency’sNational Polar - orbit Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project ) .
The mental image featured above is a section of a big image ( hi - rhenium adaptation of which can be download here ) that capture an enormous swath of the Earth ’s surface , extending from Canada ’s Hudson Bay all the way to the northerly seacoast of Venezuela . In the mental image up top , you’re able to make out Florida and Cuba just left of the figure of speech ’s center .
According toNASA :
VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard the [ NPP satellite ] that launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base , Calif. , on Oct. 28 . Since then , NPP make its final orbit at an EL of 512 miles ( 824 km ) , powered on all instruments and is travel around the world at 16,640 mi an time of day ( eight km per secondly ) .
“ The task now for the science community is to pass judgment VIIRS public presentation and find out the truth of its data products , ” say Chris Justice , a prof of geography at the University of Maryland , College Park , who will use data gathered by VIIRS in his inquiry .
“ These farseeing - term data records are decisive in monitor how the Earth ’s surface is modify – either from human activity or through climate variety . ”
[ ViaNASA Earth Observatory ]
EarthNASAScienceSpace
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