These are the lowest practical level instrument data from the MODIS satellite sensors (http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov) carried on the Terra and Aqua satellite platforms. They are calibrated geolocated radiances at the top of atmosphere, generated from the raw MODIS PDS files. They contain all spectral channels at 1000m, and also the 250m and 500m reflectance channels. As such, they are the jumping off point for virtually all application products, either atmospheric, terrestrial or marine. As instrument calibration evolves, they can be regenerated from the raw PDS data set using update calibration tables. This avoids repeated download of the product data from the US.
The MODIS instruments are the foremost moderate resolution environmental imagers of the past decade. The area encompassed is the whole of the Australian terrestrial region and the surrounding oceans. They are intended to be a national research resource.
These data are of direct value as pre-cursors to virtually all higher level MODIS products. They underpin many applications. MODIS Terra data begins in 2000, Aqua in 2002. In late 2014, both are still operating. They will also be of interest to developers of new application algorithms.
The data continue and extend the time series of continental scale moderate resolution remote sensing time series started by NOAA/AVHRR.
These are unlikely to be cited directly. IMOS and TERN will generate higher level products from these data that will be more useful in applications more likely to attract citations.
