Every few years, new satellite images of the earth's surface are acquired from remote sensors aboard a space craft. Because the technology associated with satellite imagery improves so rapidly, these new images generate a wave of excitement throughout the scientific community, representing an opportunity to view the earth's surface at a level of detail (resolution) and accuracy never achieved...

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates POES, the Polar Operational Environmental Satellite system. Comprised of several components (namely, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS)), these satellites make nearly polar orbits daily, providing global coverage of land, ocean, and atmospheric data. The POES...

In a 1997 collaborative effort, NASA launched the Canadian Space Agency's RADARSAT Satellite which spent eighteen days over the Southern Hemisphere forming the first high-resolution radar maps of the Antarctic. RADARSAT's unusual capabilities make it possible to capture data even through darkness, clouds, and fog. Unveiled to the public on October 18, 1999, the new maps are so clear and detailed...

Updated every one to three hours, this Environment Canada page offers the latest Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) images (in MPEG format) from GOES-8 and GOES-9, covering Eastern Canada, Western Canada, Eastern North America, Western North America, Pacific North America, and North and South America. Images show global climate/weather patterns in the form of color graphics...

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been in operation for several years, and its use is continually rising. GPS is the main satellite navigation system developed by the United States. There are countless applications of this technology, and numerous international efforts are currently underway. The Topcon Positioning Systems company provides an excellent introduction to GPS technology in...

Associated with the School of Computer Science at Florida International University, the High Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC) released TerraFly in November 2001, a Web-based application that allows users to view Geographic Information Systems (GIS) images. In agreement with TerraFly, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provides the project with many of its satellite images in...

The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRC), "a leading centre of excellence in the use of earth-observation data," is responsible for the acquisition of data and the development of remote sensing applications and related methodologies. This site, provided by Natural Resources Canada, highlights Canadian geography using images obtained through remote sensing. CCRC's information-rich site is...