The colours in this TerraSAR-X radar image of the Kubitzer Bodden, north of Stralsund, tell us how strongly the radar beams emitted were scattered back by Earth's surface in each polarisation (red: HH, green: VV, blue: HH-VV). This permits the drawing of conclusions about various properties of the backscattering surfaces (e.g. roughness and humidity). Among other% [...]

The Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, can be seen in the centre of the image. Numerous bright spots represent ships, documenting busy traffic in the Strait. Gibraltar is located in the north, Morocco on the opposite side in the south. Also on the Spanish side a peninsula extends into the Atlantic, a piece of mai [...]

Using spectral bands 2, 3, 5 and 7 from the ENVISAT MERIS Reduced Resolution level 2 products the European Space Agency Grid Processing on-Demand (G-POD) - http://eogrid.esrin.esa.int - automatically creates in a daily, monthly and seasonal basis, global Earth maps. With a spatial resolution of 1 minute (aro [...]

The ENVISAT MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer Instrument) Global Vegetation Index (MGVI) was designed to assess and monitor the state and health of terrestrial vegetation using MERIS measurements acquired in space (at the so-called 'top of atmosphere'). Using the blue, red and near-infrared spectral bands of MERIS, as well as information on the angula [...]

This animation is comprised of Envisat ASAR mosaics of the Arctic Ocean for 2005, 2006 and 2007 and highlights the changes in sea ice. The ice-free areas appear as dark gray and the sea ice areas as light gray. The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago, opening up [...]

This image is an example of global composite of MCI (Maximum Chlorophyll Index) for the month of July 2006 where a major bloom event in the southern Baltic can be seen at the upper centre. This index shows the amplitude of a peak near 705 nm in the radiance spectrum of light reflected from the earth’s surface, which has been associated with high levels [...]

Envisat MERIS sensor captures sand and dust from the Sahara Desert blowing across the Atlantic Ocean along the coasts of Mauritania (top), Senegal (middle) and Guinea Bissau (bottom). The cloud-covered Cape Verde islands are visible off the coast of Senegal. The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) is a imaging spectrometer that measures the solar radia [...]

On May 20, 2008, a deck of clouds over the Pacific Ocean provided an optical display for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. The ring-shaped, rainbow-like phenomenon, known as a glory, appears through the length of the left of this image.

The most obvious ring is about 60 kilometers wide in [...]