This digital archive started at the end of September of 2001. Day-time quicklook images originally consisted of channel 2 but since January 16 2003 consist of channels 1,4 and 3. Since January 17 2003 a two times enlargement is also available for each day-time image. Night-time quicklook images were originally channel 31 but since February 2005 are channel 21. The images are resampled by a factor of 3.14. All quicklooks are from data received in Perth except where otherwise noted. The quicklooks show exactly what the satellite sees. The distortion is due to 3 factors: the earth's curvature and rotation and the wide field of view of the sensor. These quicklooks have had no geometric correction applied whatsoever. Click here for more information on the MODIS sensor. The metadata for each quicklook image has the following format:

satellite-n SEP 28 03:05 2001 GMT location
Direction : direction Lines : 5000

where :

• satellite is the satellite (either Terra or Aqua),
• n is the satellite number,
• location is the name of the city in which the data was received (assumed to be Perth if not stated) and
• direction is either ascending (heading northwards) or descending (heading southwards).