Once every three months, lunar images are obtained that are the same as those viewed from Earth during our full Moon. The spatial resolution of the color images is about 10 km, and the resolution of the science products will be about 20 km. Clearly visible are storms forming over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, major slowly moving 'cloud rivers', dust aerosol plumes from Africa, the sun's reflection in the oceans, ship exhaust tracks in the clouds, rivers and lakes, and the variegated land surface patterns especially in the African deserts. The EPIC instrument views the Earth from sunrise in the west to sunset in the east 12 to 13 times per day as the Earth rotates at 15 degrees of longitude per hour.
The science information will be ozone and aerosol amounts, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, and vegetation information. In addition to images, scientific information will be uploaded as it becomes available after in-flight calibration is complete. The color balance has been adjusted to approximate an image that could be seen with the average human eye.
The EPIC science team plans to upload 13 new color images per day on their website.
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