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Observing the Earth

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Agricultural fields that surround the cities of Lund and Malmö in Sweden are pictured in this image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

Deadly wildfires continue to rage in south-central Chile destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of land across the country. Satellite images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on 4 February show the ongoing fires and heatwave in South America.

Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, is featured in this image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

Europe has kicked off the new year with an intense winter heatwave. The warm temperatures and lack of snowfall in the Alps has left several ski resorts with little or no snow. The difference in snow cover is visible in these Copernicus Sentinel-2 images captured in January 2022 compared to January 2023.

This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows the wide-coverage of snowfall in the Alps, which hopefully bodes well for the coming year.

Europe’s all-new weather satellite takes to the skies

ESA Extremes

Halloween Crack for Halloween

A volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli erupted early on Sunday morning, releasing huge plumes of smoke and a lava flow pouring into the sea. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this image of the aftermath less than five hours after the eruption.

Data captured from space by Copernicus Sentinel-1 on 30 August was used to map the extent of flooding that is currently devastating Pakistan.

A record-breaking drought has caused parts of the Yangtze River to dry up – affecting hydropower, shipping routes and limiting drinking water supplies. Images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission show a comparison of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, near Chongqing, over the last three years.

Water levels on the Rhine River have continued to drop owing to soaring temperatures and lack of rainfall - preventing many vessels from navigating through the river's waters at full capacity. These Copernicus Sentinel-2 images show the stark difference between August 2021 and August 2022.

EarthCARE taking wing

Hundreds of residents and tourists have been evacuated from the Greek island of Lesbos after a wildfire broke out on the morning of 23 July. This image, captured by Sentinel-2, shows the active fire front which stretches for more than four km.

These Copernicus Sentinel-2 images, one year apart, show the area affected by wildfire around Las Batuecas - Sierra de Francia Nature Reserve near Salamanca in western Spain.

Copernicus Sentinel-1 maps Bangladesh flood

Deep within the Sahara Desert lies one of the best-preserved craters on Earth. On Asteroid Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the almost-perfectly circular Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania.

The Po River, the longest river in Italy, is hitting record low water levels after months without heavy rainfall. This Copernicus Sentinel-2 animation reveals how the river has significantly shrunk between June 2020 and June 2022.

Omar Di Felice, an extreme cyclist, has biked from Rome to Bonn to take part at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium. Tune in today at 15:30 live from Bonn on ESA Earth Observation Instagram as he’s joined by ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano and ESA CryoSat Mission Geophysicist Alessandro di Bella.

India is currently facing a prolonged heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 42°C in numerous cities across the country. This map, generated using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3, shows the land surface temperature on 29 April.

Radio eye on forest mission Biomass

A new eruption started at the Anak Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia on 3 February 2022, as seen in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

An unusual snowstorm has blanketed parts of Turkey and Greece, causing power cuts and chaos on the roads and flight cancellations. Two images from Copernicus Sentinel-2 show Athens before and after the snowstorm.

The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific erupted with such force on 15 January that it is thought to be the biggest eruption recorded anywhere on the planet in 30 years.

The US State of Washington is under a state of emergency following days of severe wind and rain leading to extensive flooding in parts of the state. Different satellites in orbit carry different instruments that can provide us with a wealth of complementary information to understand and to respond to flooding disasters.

This image, captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2 on 30 September 2021, shows the flow of lava from the volcano erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma.

New radar images show the A-74 iceberg spinning around the western tip of the Brunt Ice Shelf, brushing slightly against it before continuing southwards.

Parts of the Mediterranean and central Europe have experienced extreme temperatures this summer, with wildfires causing devastation on the Greek island of Evia. This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows the extent of the burned area in the northern part of the island.

This map generated using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3 shows the temperature of the land surface on 2 August 2021.

Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on 30 July 2021, this image shows smoke billowing from several fires along the southern coast of Turkey.

Record rainfall has caused swollen rivers to burst their banks and wash away homes and other buildings in western Europe. Data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission are being used to map flooded areas to help relief efforts.

A touch of sun

The heatwave now hitting parts of western Canada and the US has been particularly devastating. This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows land surface temperature.

For Asteroid Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Shoemaker Impact Structure (formerly known as Teague Ring) in Western Australia.

Stark reality of Californian drought from space

An enormous iceberg has calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, in the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica. The iceberg, dubbed A-76, measures around 4320 sq km in size and is currently the largest berg in the world.

False-colour images captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2 show the aftermath of the explosive volcanic eruption that took place on 9 April 2021 on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent.

The enormous Ever Given container ship, wedged in Egypt’s Suez Canal, is visible in new images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission.

Stretches of land across New South Wales, Australia, have been hit with torrential rain leading to record-breaking floods. Data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission are being used to map flooded areas to help relief efforts.

New Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar images show a giant iceberg breaking off from the northern section of Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf

Italy’s Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has erupted twice in less than 48 hours, spewing a fountain of lava and ash into the sky. This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image has been processed to show the lava flow in bright red.

A contract signed today secures ESA InCubed co-funding towards the development of Aerospacelab’s Multispectral Companion Mission

As this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image captured today shows, the Netherlands remains pretty much snow-covered thanks to days of sub-zero temperatures following the country’s first major snowstorm in a decade.

Competitors of the Vendée Globe sailing race are now nearing the finishing point, but while they were near the treacherous iceberg-infested waters of the Southern Ocean they remained relatively safe thanks to satellite observations.

Sardinia, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Tanezrouft Basin – one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara Desert.

The heavy snowfall that hit Spain a few days ago still lies heavy across much of the country as this Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite image shows.

This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of Madrid in Spain appears to have been taken in black and white. In fact, it is a true-colour image – but the heaviest snowfall in 50 years has blanketed the region, turning the landscape white.

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over Lapland, the largest and northernmost region of Finland, just in time for Christmas.

Heavy snowfall in the Alps has been recorded over the past weeks. The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured this image of the snow-covered Alps on 14 December.

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