Global surface and cloud-top temperatures 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 long-wave infrared channel, which measures Earth’s surface temperature as well as the temperature at the top of clouds.

In this image, the dark red corresponds to high temperatures, mainly on the warmer land surfaces, while blue corresponds to lower temperatures, typically on the top of clouds. Most of the warmest (dark red) areas in this image are on the continents of Africa and South America. In the top-centre of the image, the outline of the coast of western Africa is clearly visible in dark red, with the Cape Verde peninsula, home to Senegal’s capital Dakar, visible as one of the warmest areas in this image. In the bottom-right of the image, the western coast of Namibia and South Africa are also visible in red beneath a swirl of cold cloud shown in blue, while the northeast coast of Brazil is visible in dark red on the left of the image.

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