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MODIS Data for Meteor Crater

The MODIS instrument flies on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, both of which are designed to observe the land, oceans, and atmosphere of Earth. The instrument has a viewing swath of 2,330 kilometers and sees the entire surface of the Earth every one to two days. The instrument’s detectors measure reflected light in 36 spectral bands between 0.405 and 14.385 microns.  The spatial resolution of these observations varies between 250 meters, 500 meters, and 1000 meters.

The MODIS image shown here was captured on 3 April 2009 when winds near Meteor Crater were clocked at over 145 kilometers (90 miles) per hour. The wind generated a dust storm, which can be seen as streams originating along the Little Colorado River Valley and being carried to the northeast. Clouds in the atmosphere above the area have high albedos and appear bright white.  The resolution of this MODIS mage is 250 meters per pixel.

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