Short introduction to the weather in Europe   The archipelago of Svalbard, which is about 10 degrees from the North Pole and about 90 minutes by plane from the northern tip of Norway, is one of the main CryoSat-2 validation test areas. The main site is the large Austfonna ice cap at the east of the archipelago where the CryoVex 2007 campaign is taking place. East to West     High going sea. Cyclones     Tropical Cyclone Gamede is visible making its way across the Indian Ocean just above the islands of Mauritius and Réunion (pictured) in this image acquired on 23 February 2007 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument working in Reduced Resolution mode to deliver a spatial resolution of 1200 metres.