This digital archive starts from 1983. Day-time quicklook images are colour and consist of channels 1 and 2. Night-time quicklook images are greyscale and consist of brightness temperature based on channel 3. The images are resampled by a factor of 4. All quicklooks are from data received in Perth except where otherwise noted (ie. Darwin, Melbourne or Townsville). 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 NOAA-AVHRR sensor. The metadata for each quicklook image has the following format:

Nnn ooooo JAN 01 12:00 1997 WST location
Top Left : 10.00,130.00 Top Right : 15.00,160.00
Bottom Left : -30.00,135.00 Bottom Right : -25.00,165.00
Direction : direction Lines : 5000 where :

• nn is the NOAA satellite number,
• ooooo is the satellite orbit 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).