Global air humidity by MTG-Sounder

The image shows Earth from geostationary orbit, about 36 000 km from the planet’s surface. It was captured on 15 November 2025 by the MTG-Sounder’s Infrared Sounder instrument, using the medium-wave infrared channel, which measures humidity in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue colours correspond to regions in the atmosphere with higher humidity, while red colours correspond to lower humidity in the atmosphere.

The outlines of landmasses are not visible in this image. The areas of least humidity, shown in dark red, are seen approximately over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East (top of image), while a large area of low humidity also covers part of the South Atlantic Ocean (centre of image). Numerous patches of high humidity are seen in dark blue over the eastern part of the African continent as well as in high and low latitudes.

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