Satellites plus software equal best-ever Mediterranean heat map


Medspiration
 
This daily-updated highest-ever-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) map of the Mediterranean was prepared using satellite data. The two-square-kilometre resolution animation covers November 1 - 25 this year. The colour bar below represents measured SST in Celsius. This SST map was created as part of ESA's Medspiration project, which the European contribution to a global effort to use space resources to create a global high-resolution SST product in order to improve ocean and climate models. This effort is known as the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Pilot Project (GHRSST-PP).
See here the high resolution animation.

East Mediterranean Sea - MERIS - 6 June 2002
 
At the top of the image, south of the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube brings sediment-rich waters into the Black Sea. Combined with the often-intense biological activity that takes place in this sea, the resulting phytoplankton and the suspended sediments create the vivid green patches seen in the image.

Further south, Greece, and the Aegean Sea are facing the Mediterranean. The Romans used to call the Mediterranean the ‘Mare Nostrum’, meaning, ‘Our Sea’. Since centuries, the navigation on its waters has played and important role in the development of European countries. MERIS, with its 15 visible and near-infrared channels enable the retrieval of water composition data. It provides Europe with an unprecedented tool to better understand and monitor the eco-systems of our coastal waters.


 
ESA's ten-instrument Envisat environmental satellite has been observing the Earth for more than three years. Picture by EADS Astrium.

Envisat's AATSR preparing for thermal vacuum test at RAL
 
The Space Science and Technology Department (SSTD) at the CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) carries out an exciting range of space research and technology development. With significant involvement in over 50 space missions in recent years, SSTD is in the forefront of UK space research. Here can be seen the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) instrument for the Envisat satellite being prepared for testing in a thermal vacuum tank at RAL.

Atlantic ocean seen by Envisat AATSR
 
Envisat's Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) continuously monitors sea surface temperature to an accuracy of a few tenths of a degree. This is a false-colour representation of AATSR results over the Atlantic, with blue corresponding to coldest waters and red the warmest.



Release date: 23 February 2005