Geoscience Australia is now producing cloud-free satellite images of the whole of Australia using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on board the Terra and Aqua satellites.
A new image will be produced every four days, comprised of the past 16 days worth of data, to create a single composite product of Australia.
The processing we apply to this data creates an image which is cloud-free, and has been corrected for view and sun angle effects. These effects are more prominent on sensors such as MODIS, which have a wide field-of-view of the Earth. The removal of these effects creates an image known as Normalised Bottom of Atmosphere Surface Reflectance (NBAR) products.
There are key specification differences between our products and the existing MODIS composite products available through the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
An additional benefit of these MODIS composites of Australia is that they provide information about atmospheric conditions which can be used to improve atmospheric corrections for other imagery acquired at similar times.
MODIS composite images are available free of charge from our website for approximately six months after image acquisition.
More information about our MODIS products is available on our website.
This unique visual record of landscape and vegetation changes in Australia now extends to 34 years, with the availability of 2006 data from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites.
Satellite images and data, spanning from 1972 to 2006, are now available from Geoscience Australia and Landsat distributors.
Data for several epochs within the 34 year time span are available in 1:1M scale tiles or as individual images of the Australian landmass. More information on the products can be found at the Landsat Mosaic (AGO) product suite page. AGO data has been produced by the Department of Climate Change.