English: NASA’s Terra satellite was launched on December 18, 1999 aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket, roaring into space from Vadenburg Air Force Base. After successfully reaching a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit, the first data collections began in late February 2000. The Terra mission was expected to last 6 years.

On May 5, 2000, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra acquired its first view of the “Top of the World”—an exciting breakthrough in the ability to observe the usually-cloudy region around the North Pole. That image was made available to the public on NASA’s Earth Observatory website as the Image of the Day on October 2, 2000. On March 4, 2020, one day short of twenty years later—and more than 14 years after the anticipated end date of the Terra mission— the MODIS instrument aboard Terra once again collected a stunning true-color image of the Top of the World.

The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth. It defines the geodetic latitude of 90 degrees north, and, from the North Pole, all directions are south. The title “The Top of the World” is well earned! The North Pole lies not on a landmass, but on the frigid, ice-capped waters of the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic ice cap shrinks each summer with longer sunshine and warmer days, and expands in the cold, long, Arctic night of winter. It is as true today as it was twenty years ago that the region is usually covered in swirling cloud, making clear satellite imagery difficult to attain.

Although the satellite, the MODIS instrument, and the type of data collected and sent back to Earth from MODIS remain the same as two decades ago, processing techniques continue to evolve. It is interesting to compare this image with the May 4, 2000 one. The Earth Observatory story can be found at THIS link.

In addition, the NASA Worldview App is an easy-to-use tool that gives the public greater access to MODIS imagery. It allows the addition of such features as false-color imagery, which can help sort out many features not seen in true-color, such as cloud and ice and gives the ability to create comparison images of the same scene over different dates. To better understand a given region, the app also allows borders and place names to be placed on an image. To see the May 4, 2020 scene with place names, click here

The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data accessible and freely available to the public.