December 21, 2020 - New Zealand

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   New Zealand
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   On December 15, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) passed over New Zealand and acquired a true-color image of the
   North Island surrounded by cloud and sunglint.

   New Zealand sits in the South Pacific Ocean roughly 1,250 miles (2,000
   km) southeast of Australia. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is
   located on the southern tip of the North Island, looking across Cook
   Strait toward South Island. At the narrowest point, Cook Strait
   measures only 14 mi (22 km) wide.

   North Island wears the many shades of green typical of the island as
   summer approaches, while white clouds cover the ocean not far offshore.
   A broad streak of silvery-gray sits over the Tasman Sea—a marginal sea
   of the South Pacific that spans the space between New Zealand and
   Australia. Known as “sunglint”, the gleam is an optical phenomenon that
   occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of the water at the same
   angle that a satellite sensor views it, resulting in a mirror-like
   specular reflection of sunlight off the water.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 12/15/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (145.6 KB),  500m (492.7 KB),  250m (1.4 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-12-21
 
