Using data from several Earth-observing satellites, including ESA’s CryoSat and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, scientists have discovered that a huge flood beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet surged upwards with such force that it fractured the ice sheet, resulting in a vast quantity of meltwater bursting through the ice surface.

Satellite observations reveal that the extent of sea ice in the Arctic is once again hovering near record lows for this time of year – underscoring a troubling and persistent trend. This issue is a key topic at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium in Vienna, where scientists are emphasising the critical role that ESA’s Climate Change Initiative Sea Ice Project and CryoSat mission have had in helping to underpin these findings.Looking ahead, the ability to monitor polar sea ice is in safe hands, as the development of the new CRISTAL mission is progressing well and the first satellite will be ready for launch in the second half of 2027.

Fluctuations in the carbon-rich biomass held within the world’s forests can contribute to, or slow, climate change. A series of new maps of above ground biomass, generated using space observations, is set to help our understanding of global carbon cycling and support forest management, emissions reduction and sustainable development policy goals.

Satellite observations show that sea-surface temperatures over the past four decades have been getting warmer at an accelerated pace.

Western North America

Envisat captures images of a sandstorm

Larsen B: 2002-2012

Greenland ice change, 2015

Was Venus responsible for the creation of these islands?

Ice Monitoring in the Arctic and Antarctic

Satellites can provide fast and accurate information about disasters