ESA - Observing the Earth - Understanding Our Planet - Through a satellite darkly: night views of European seas improve ESA ocean heat map

Space and Earth Monitoring

About Observing the Earth

How does Earth Observation work?How to get Earth observation data Integrating Earth Observation in your job Earth Observation users speak

Opportunities with us

Education & training International cooperation Milestones & announcements EO conferences organised by ESA

Multimedia

Image Gallery Video Gallery Online resources RSS feeds

Services

Calendar

Article Images

Through a satellite darkly: night views of European seas improve ESA ocean heat map

17 March 2006

Back to article

Covering 71% of the Earth's surface, the seas absorb and retain solar heat to a much greater extent than the land and atmosphere - it takes a lot of energy to heat them up, but once they are warmed, they stay warm. This makes sea surface temperature (SST) an important variable when it comes to estimating global warming.

Back to article

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 197 kb)

An image of the waters around Spain's Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean Sea showing differences in surface water temperatures captured by Envisat's Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR). The most important feature of the AATSR instrument is its capability to measure the world’s ocean temperatures, a key parameter to monitor and understand planetary climate changes. AATSR, with its visible and infrared channels, is a key instrument onboard Envisat that helps climate researchers better understand the role of oceans in our biosphere. As this image demonstrates, the instrument also has the capability to detect phytoplankton, tiny algae living in the first tens of meter below the water’s surface.

Credits: ESA

Scientific and operational needs for ocean heating data

Back to article

Accurate Sea Surface Temperature (SST) maps can also be used to steer fishermen towards better catches.

Back to article

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 145 kb)

This first image from MSG-1, now renamed Meteosat-8, is a colour composite derived from three of the twelve channels operating in the visible and infra-red parts of the spectrum used by MSG’s main instrument, the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-red Imager (SEVIRI).

Credits: Eumetsat 2002

Medspiration and MARCOAST

Back to article

East Mediterranean Sea - MERIS - 6 June 2002

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 273 kb)

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.

Credits: ESA 2002

Today's Earth check-up