ESA celebrates 15 years of near-real time data delivery in Earth Observation   This Envisat's MERIS image over the Red Sea was acquired on 16 February 2007 through MIRAVI. MIRAVI (short for MERIS Images RApid VIsualisation), debuted in 2006 and lets users track natural events in progress, such as fires, floods and volcanic eruptions, or simply explore the planet through the eyes of a satellite.   ERS-1 fast delivery data distribution system in 1992 based on the use of dedicated landlines and telecom satellites.   Responding to the growing demand for ozone data to monitor the ozone layer and improve ultraviolet (UV) radiation forecasts, the GOME instrument aboard ERS-2 has been working since 1997 in near-real time, providing data on ozone levels, coverage of other trace gases, UV and air-pollution monitoring.   Utilising data from Envisat’s Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) instrument, as well as other instruments aboard different satellites, ESA provides daily sea surface temperature maps of the European seas in near-real time as part of the agency’s Medspiration project.   The first statistics highlighting the delivery time of ERS-1 wind scatterometer products for the month of March 1992. The three acquisition stations used were Gatineau station (GS) in Canada, Kiruna station (KS) in Sweden and Maspalomas station (MS) in Spain. For the majority of days that month, the products were available within the 180-minute period (i.e. 3 hours – the time frame used to define near-real time). Release date: 22 February 2008