ESA - Observing the Earth - Mapping the air to safeguard your looks, the environment

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Mapping the air to safeguard your looks, the environment – and planes in flight

14 August 2003

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At a Mexico City intersection, an unidentified man rubs his eyes as the couple waits to cross the traffic, January 8, 1995. As smog levels rise, Mexico City authorities have called a "pre-alert" , a pollution state of emergency

Credits: AP Photo-Dario Lopez Mills

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Observations from Envisat’s Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument on 10 November 2002 provide insight into the levels of sulphur dioxide emitted by the Etna volcano and how they impact the environment in Mediterranean countries.
The colour scale indicates the sulphur dioxide levels in Dobson Units (DUs) used to measure concentrations of gases in the atmosphere.

Credits: University of Bremen/ESA

Air quality monitoring

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The snow-covered Alps of the Swiss Alps and Northern Italy can be observed in this Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) image. In western Switzerland Lake Geneva can just be seem poking through the cloud and also Lake Constance to the North.
In the south of the image the Italian lakes of Maggiore, Como and Garda are clearly visible. To the south of Como you will find also the city of Milan. And in the far northwest of Italy you can see Turin and Genoa. The Lighter blue colour of the sea around the Gulf of Genoa is likely to be caused by increased sedimentation in this area.

Technical Information:
Instrument: MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)
Date of Acquisition: 1 December 2002
Orbit number: 03941
Instrument features: Full Resolution image (300 - metre resolution)

Credits: ESA 2002

Diverting planes from deadly dust

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