What can you spot in this latest global picture of Earth? There are stark blue seas around Cuba, an agricultural fire in northern India and, of course, the rest of our planet in a first look from NOAA’s latest Earth-observing satellite NOAA-21.
The images of the Earth that make up this mosaic, and a few close-ups, on Dec. 5. and Dec. 6 were captured by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument which launched on Nov. 10 from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 10 (The spacecraft was previously known as JPSS-2.) VIIRS collects images in both the visible and infrared spectra, allowing scientists to see the details of the Earth’s surface.
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VIIRS provides vital information to scientists about the Earth’s ocean, atmosphere and land. It can detect differences in the color of the ocean, telling scientists where phytoplankton are, or whether dangerous algal blooms have formed on man-made beaches. The instruments can help scientists identify the atmosphere and help monitor the movement of the weather.
NOAA-21 is the second operational satellite in a series called the Polar Articulation Satellite, which provides global, pole-to-pole images. The last JPSS satellite, now known as NOAA-20, was launched in November 2017. Before that, the NOAA-NASA Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP), which provided the blueprint for JPSS, was launched in 2011.
Satellites orbit pole-to-pole, observing the integrity of the Earth’s surface twice a day. It cruises 512 miles (824 kilometers) above Earth at 17,000 mph (27,360 kph) and crosses the equator 14 times per day. And all the viirs carry the instrument.
The third is the JPSS satellite to launch (Opens in a new tab) in 2017 and the fourth not yet (Opens in a new tab) have a launch date
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