View allAll Photos Tagged Copernicus
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over the Lena River Delta, the largest delta in the Arctic.
At nearly 4500 km long, the Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. The river stems from a small mountain lake in southern Russia, and flows northwards before emptying into the Arctic Ocean, via the Laptev Sea.
The river is visible in bright yellow, as it splits and divides into many different channels before meandering towards the sea. Sediments carried by the waters flow through a flat plain, creating the Lena River Delta. Hundreds of small lakes and ponds are visible dotted around the tundra.
This false-colour image was captured on 14 January 2019, the peak of the Arctic winter, and shows a large amount of ice in the waters surrounding the delta. Cracks can be seen in the turquoise-coloured ice at the top of the image, and several icebergs can also be seen floating in the Arctic waters to the right. Snow can also be seen in yellow on the mountains at the bottom of the image.
The delta’s snow-covered tundra is frozen for most of the year, before thawing and blossoming into a fertile wetland during the brief polar summer – a 32 000 sq km haven for Arctic wildlife. Swans, geese and ducks are some of the migratory birds that breed in the productive wetland, which also supports fish and marine mammals.
In 1995, the Lena Delta Reserve was expanded, making it the largest protected area in Russia.
The two identical Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites carry radar instruments, which can see through clouds and rain, and in the dark, to image Earth’s surface below. This is particularly useful for providing imagery for emergency response during extreme weather conditions, or monitoring areas prone to long periods of darkness, in this case, the Arctic.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Another test: this time a stack of 25 images, processed in AviStack and RegiStax.
Canon 80D + Orion XT10 + Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate (giving an effective focal length of 3,000 mm).
Shot with a Meade 7 inch F9 APO Refractor with a 2x barlow (negative projection photography), Nikon D-50.
From New Albany Indiana 2006:10:01 21:47:38
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Danube Delta – the second largest river delta in Europe.
The Danube Delta is a labyrinth of water and land shared between Romania and Ukraine, made up of countless lakes, channels and islands lying at the end of the 2860 km-long river of the same name. The Danube River rises in the Black Forest mountains in Germany and along its course, passes through 10 countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea.
The Danube Delta covers an area of some 4300 sq km and is known for its abundance of birdlife, as it hosts more than 300 species of birds as well as 45 species of freshwater fish in its numerous lakes and marshes. In 1991, the Romanian part of the Danube Delta became part of UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
In this true-colour image, captured in April 2020, the vast reed beds can be seen in shades of brown which is typical during this time of year. The Danube is visible (in the left of the image) before splitting into the various channels and branches that flow through the reeds and grassland before reaching the Black Sea. The distinct light-green colours in the sea are likely due to sediment being carried by the river.
Just south of the Danube Delta lie the lagoons of Razim (Razelm) and Sinoe, visible in emerald green owing to a high concentration of algae. This lagoon complex was formed with the help of the Danube’s alluvial deposits and the gradual eastward movement of the coastal currents caused by the advancement of the delta.
In the top-right of the image lies the Sasyk, or Kunduk, Lagoon in southern Ukraine. The site has been designated as Ramsar Wetland Site as it is important for migrating, breeding and moulting waterbirds.
Data gathered by the Sentinel-2 satellites are used for monitoring land use and changes, land management, agriculture, forestry and natural disasters (floods, forest fires, landslides and erosion). Offering colour vision for the Copernicus programme, Sentinel-2 delivers optical images from the visible to short-wave infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over two saline lakes in East Africa: the larger Lake Natron in northern Tanzania and the smaller Lake Magadi, just over the border in Kenya.
Lake Natron is around 60 km long and is fed mainly by the Ewaso Ng'iro River. Despite its dark colour in this image, Lake Natron is often bright red owing to the presence of microorganisms that feed on the salts of the water.
The saline waters make the lake inhospitable for many plants and animals, yet the surrounding salt water marshes are a surprising habitat for flamingos. In fact, the lake is home to the highest concentrations of lesser and greater flamingos in East Africa, where they feed on spirulina – a green algae with red pigments.
The extinct Gelai Volcano, standing at 2942 m tall, is visible southeast of the lake.
The pink-coloured waters of Lake Magadi can also be seen at the top of the image. The lake is over 30 km long and has a notably high salt content, and in some places the salt is up to 40 metres thick. The mineral trona can also be found in the lake’s waters. This mineral is collected and used for glass manufacturing, fabric dyeing and paper production.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus programme. The mission’s frequent revisits over the same area and high spatial resolution allow changes in inland water bodies to be closely monitored.
This image, which was captured on 3 February 2019, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
This image is about comparing Photoshop processing (my customary tool) of lunar data to PixInsight processing. This image, processed in PixInsight, is rendered from the same data as the Crater Copernicus image processed in Photoshop and posted on 2022-08-22.
My impression of this image is that although it reveals more detail than the one originally posted, there seems to be some remaining softness that can be improved by better seeing and use of a UV-IR cutt filter
After registration and stacking in Autostakkert, all follow on processing to this image was in PixInsight instead of Photoshop.
PixInsight processes used:
ChannelExtraction to pull out separate RGB channel images
LinearFit to normalize channel levels
ColorCombination to reassemble into a single RGB image
UnsharpMask for sharpening
CurvesTransformation for RGB, saturation and CIE c* component stretches
A standard issue "tourist shot"....but I just had to do it...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Chicago, Illinois
Olympus E-510 DSLR
Olympus ED 40-150mm f4-5.6 zoom
Quantaray Pro polarizer filter
ISO 200 RAW
Uploaded with the Flock Browser
The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over the North Sea, revealing a significant algae bloom covering most of the southern part. One of Europe's most productive fisheries, the North Sea covers an area of 570 000 sq km and is linked to the Atlantic by one of the world’s busiest shipping regions – the English Channel.
The image covers a large section of Scandinavia, including Norway, the south of Sweden, and Denmark, stretching down to Germany and the Netherlands in the bottom right. On the left of the image we can see the east coast of Scotland and the Northern Isles, comprising two archipelagos – Orkney and Shetland.
This true-colour image taken using Sentinel-3’s Ocean and Land Colour Instrument shows a significant algae bloom.
Harmful algal blooms caused by excessive growth of marine algae have occurred in the North Sea and the English Channel area in recent years, with satellite data being used to track their growth and spread. These data can then be used to help develop alert systems to mitigate against damaging impacts for tourism and fishing industries.
Harmful blooms, which pose a threat to various forms of water life, are thought to carry an annual cost of over 900 million euros to these industries in the EU.
Helping to map algal blooms and providing critical information for marine operations are just some of the ways that the two-satellite Sentinel-3 is used for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. Since 2016, Sentinel-3A has been measuring our oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. In April 2018, it was joined by its twin satellite Sentinel-3B.
This image, which was captured on 27 May 2017, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over part of Chile's Atacama Desert, which is bound on the west by the Pacific and on the east by the Andes. The Atacama is considered one of the driest places on Earth – there are some parts of the desert where rainfall has never been recorded.
In this image, captured on 26 June 2019, a specific area in the Tarapacá Region, in northern Chile, is featured – where some of the largest caliche deposits can be found. It is here where nitrates, lithium, potassium and iodine are mined.
Iodine, for example, is extracted in a process called heap leaching – which is widely used in modern large-scale mining operations. Leach piles are visible as rectangular shapes dotted around the image, although the exact reason for the different shades of colour is uncertain. Some leach piles could appear lighter or darker owing to the varying water content or soil type concentration.
The geometric shapes in the right are large evaporation ponds. Brine is pumped to the surface through a network of wells into the shallow ponds. The dry and windy climate enhances the evaporation of the water and leaves concentrated salts behind for the extraction of lithium – which is used in the manufacturing of batteries.
The bright, turquoise colours of the evaporation ponds are in stark contrast with the surrounding desert landscape – making them easily identifiable from space. Distinctive black lines visible in the image are roads that connect to the various construction sites.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus programme. This false-colour image was processed by selecting spectral bands that can be used for classifying geological features.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The 71% illuminated moon imaged on the night of the 15.05.16. Crater Copernicus is placed on the terminator (centre of image) while dark floored Plato as emerged into the lunar day (top)
Imaged with a focally reduced Celestron C8 and a Canon 1000D camera.
What happens when an Earth Force Dropship ignores all flight regulations and collides with a Copernicus High School bus from exiting from the Copernicus dome on the moon.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite takes us over the largest island of the Azores: São Miguel. Resting at the intersection of the Eurasian, African and North American tectonic plates, the Azores form a string of volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, some 1500 km west of mainland Portugal. The nine major islands are divided into three groups, with São Miguel falling into the eastern group.
The archipelago is an autonomous region of Portugal and home to just under 250 000 people. We can see the capital of the region, Ponta Delgada, in the bottom left of the image. The main transport hub of the Azores, João Paulo II de Ponta Delgada International Airport, is clearly visible in the same part of the image. Tourism is an important industry for the islands, with visitors flocking to enjoy the unspoilt beaches and breathtaking landscapes, from the geysers of São Miguel to the natural waterfalls of Flores.
Known locally as the Green Island, São Miguel is the most populous of the islands and amidst the lush foliage, volcanic craters, and freshwater lakes, visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to visual attractions.
The largest freshwater lake in the Azores, Lagoa das Sete Cidades, can be seen in the top left of the image. It lies in a large volcanic crater and consists of two lakes: Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde. On the right of the image we can see Furnas Lake, in the Furnas Valley, famous for its volcanic cones. The volcanic landscape of the island has even influenced local cooking methods. Cozido das Furnas, a stew-type dish, is prepared by lowering a pot filled with meat and vegetables into the hot springs dotted around the valley, and leaving it to cook for around five hours.
The Azores islands are rich in terms of flora and fauna, and are home to a large number of resident and migratory bird populations. Efforts are being made to restore and expand the laurel forests typical of the Macaronesian islands (an area covering the archipelagos of Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde) as only around 2% of the native laurel forest remains on the islands.
ESA, in collaboration with the French Space Agency, CNES, is organising a symposium on 25 years of progress in radar altimetry, which will be held in Ponta Delgada from 24–29 September. With global sea-level rise a global concern, the symposium will focus on the advances made in our understanding of the open ocean, the cryosphere, and coastal and land processes. The annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team and the International DORIS Service Workshop will also be held in the same week.
This image, which was captured on 8 September 2016, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The large crater lower left is Copernicus, above it the Montes Carpatus mountain range. Running across the image and off upper right is the Montes Appeninus mountain range, but I am always drawn to the smaller crater in the middle of this image and at the start of the Montes Appeninus range, Eratosthenes, which to me looks like a clock face or pocket watch with the second hand at 12 O'Clock and the hour hand pointing to 2 O'Clock. But maybe that is just me!
This was taken through my 356mm f/10 SCT using a mono CMOS camera and an infrared pass filter on 2nd May.
Peter
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus_(lunar_crater)
Afocal photography with Lumix LX3 through a telescope and Plossl 32 mm & 3X Barlow.
93 kilometers wide! Huge!
Taken with my Celestron C8 SCT and ZWO ASI183MC camera.
I processed this almost completely in AstroSurface. It's a free software package that really packs quite a punch. I've been impressed with its capabilities from stacking through post-processing. Very good alternative to Registax and Auto-Stakkert.
Sentinel-2A being installed on its payload launcher adapter, on 6 June 2015 at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The second satellite in Europe’s Copernicus programme is set for launch from Europe’s Spaceport on 23 June 2015.
Sentinel-2 carries an innovative wide-swath, high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands for a new perspective of our land and vegetation. The second in the two-satellite mission – Sentinel-2B – is being prepared for launch in 2016.
For more information on the mission, visit www.esa.int/sentinel2
Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2015
Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich atop a Falcon 9 rocket at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US. Once launched, this new mission will take the role of radar altimetry reference mission, continuing the long-term record of measurements of sea-surface height started in 1992 by the French–US Topex Poseidon and then the Jason series of satellite missions.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. Copernicus likely developed his model independently of Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer.
Shot in Utca NY and mirrored for an arty effect.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over the high, snow-studded Alps under clear skies.
The Alps extend 1200 km through eight different countries: France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. This mountain range, which is inhabited by some 20 million people, covers an area of approximately 200 000 sq km.
Captured on 16 February 2019, this true-colour image shows little clouds, particularly over the Alps and the surrounding flatter lands in southern France. There is an interesting contrast between this and the haze hanging over the Po valley in Italy, directly south of the Alps. The haze is most likely to be a mix of both fog and smog, trapped at the base of the Alps owing to both its topography and atmospheric conditions.
Patches of snow are also visible on the island of Corsica, to the left of mainland Italy, Croatia, to the right, and at the bottom of the Apennines in central Italy. Most of Italy’s rivers find their source in the Apennines, including the Tiber and the Arno.
The Adriatic Sea to the east of Italy is visible in turquoise, particularly the coastal area surrounding the Gargano National Park, jutting out. This light-green colour of the sea along the coast is likely to be caused by sediment carried into the sea by river discharge.
Directly to the right of the Alps, the image shows a pale-green Lake Neusiedl straddling the Austrian-Hungarian border. Neusiedl, meaning ‘swamp’ in Hungarian, is the largest endorheic lake in central Europe, meaning water flows into but not out of the lake, hence its size and level frequently fluctuates. It is a popular area for windsurfing, sailing and spotting the woolly Mangalica pig.
To the right, the freshwater Lake Balaton is visible, and is the largest lake in central Europe. It stretches for over 75 km in the southern foothills of Hungary. Its striking emerald-green colour is probably down to the presence of algae that grow in the shallow waters.
Sentinel-3 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. The mission provides critical information for a range of applications from marine observations to large-area vegetation monitoring. The satellite’s instrument package includes an optical sensor to monitor changes in the colour of Earth’s surfaces.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich safely tucked up in the Falcon 9 rocket fairing being rolled out to the launch pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US. Once launched, this new mission will take the role of radar altimetry reference mission, continuing the long-term record of measurements of sea-surface height started in 1992 by the French–US Topex Poseidon and then the Jason series of satellite missions.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
Nicolaus Copernicus, born in 1473, was a Polish astronomer best known for his groundbreaking theory that the Earth orbits the sun, challenging the old belief that the Earth was the center of the universe. Although Copernicus was born in Toruń, not Warsaw, his influence spread across Poland and Europe. This black-and-white image shows the statue of Copernicus, located in front of the Staszic Palace in Warsaw. The statue, built in the 19th century, stands as a tribute to his scientific achievements – Warsaw, Poland
Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich safely tucked up in the Falcon 9 rocket fairing being rolled out to the launch pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US. Once launched, this new mission will take the role of radar altimetry reference mission, continuing the long-term record of measurements of sea-surface height started in 1992 by the French–US Topex Poseidon and then the Jason series of satellite missions.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
Copernicus Crater – diameter is 96 km, named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. It typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system. Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI290MC, best 2.5k of 5k frames, AutoStakkert! V3.0.14 (x64), FireCapture v2.5.10 x64 and Registax v6. Photographed on July 4, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission takes us over part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Most of the archipelago is part of Nunavut – the largest and northernmost territory of Canada.
The archipelago covers an area of around 1 500 000 sq km and consists of 94 major islands and more than 36 000 minor ones. The archipelago is bound by the Beaufort Sea to the west and by Hudson Bay and the Canadian mainland to the south – largely obscured by clouds in this image.
The various islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are separated by a series of waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passage. In the past, the Northwest Passage has been impassable owing to its thick, year-round sea ice.
However, owing to significant changes in the Arctic climate, summer sea ice has decreased substantially and has led to an increasing number of vessels navigating through this once-impossible route.
In this image, captured on 27 July 2019, sea ice can be seen in the waterways of the Canadian Archipelago, as well as broken-up sea ice in the Beaufort Sea. Numerous, large ice floes are seen at the southern margin of the pack ice, and can be seen drifting southwards. As the pack ice drifts and encounters warmer waters, the ice is more prone to rapid melting.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the sea ice extent in July 2019 declined at an average daily rate of 105 700 sq km – exceeding the 1981 to 2010 average rate of 86 800 sq km per day.
This image was captured in the days when several wildfires were burning in the Arctic, specifically Siberia. In this image, a wildfire can be seen on mainland Canada, along the Mackenzie River, and smoke plumes are visible blowing westwards.
Banks Island – the westernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago – is visible in the centre of the image. The island has a large population of Arctic foxes, as well as caribou, polar bears and wolves. A number of glacial lakes can be seen in emerald green on the east side of the island.
Victoria Island lies to the east of Banks Island, and can be identified with its deeply indented coast. With an area of around 200 000 sq km, Victoria Island is only slighter smaller than the island of Great Britain.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Three views of Copernicus crater (L-R) 685nm IR pass filter, RGB Colour image, Inverted IR image
Taken from London on 29th October 2017
Celestron Edge HD11 Scope, Televue 2.5x Powermate and ASI174MM camera
Apennines Mountains and Copernicus. Moon at 6.8 days past New Moon and phase at 62% of Full Moon. Photo taken with a 155mm refractor, 4x barlow and a Nikon D810 camera at prime focus.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Lake St. Clair, forming the border between Ontario, Canada to the east, and Michigan, US to the west.
The Saint Clair River is visible at the top of the image and flows southwards, connecting the southern end of Lake Huron with Lake St. Clair, visible in the centre of the image. The river branches into several channels before reaching the lake, creating a seven-mouth delta. Much of the area surrounding the delta is used for agriculture.
The Thames River, visible east of the lake, begins in a swampy area of Ontario, before emptying its muddy waters into Lake St. Clair. Here the murky-coloured waters mix with the turquoise waters from the Saint Clair River, creating this fusion of colour visible in the heart-shaped lake. The waters then exit the lake via the Detroit River.
Lake St. Clair is approximately 40 km long and 40 km wide, with an average depth of around 3 metres. The lake is a popular site for fishing and boating, and more than 100 species of fish inhabit the lake including walleye, rainbow trout and muskellunge.
Detroit, the largest city in Michigan, is visible directly above the Detroit River. The city lies on a relatively flat plain and its extensive network of roads in the city are clearly visible in the image.
Detroit is nicknamed the “motor city” as it was the key hub for American auto-manufacturing for over a century. It was also home to the first mile of concrete highway, the first four-way three-colour traffic light and the world’s first urban freeway.
In this wintery image, captured on 26 March 2019, many of the frozen lakes northwest of the lake can be seen partially frozen over. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission allows inland bodies of water to be closely monitored.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
This shot was taken with a Celestron C9.25 XLT on a CGREM with a ZWO ASI 290MC camera at a focal length of 5.3m. Date of Recording: 21th February 2021
Sicily’s Mount Etna had some intense volcanic activity from the evening of 06 July, spewing ash into the sky and disrupting air travel. 🌋
In this image, the smoke plume is clearly visible on Sunday, 07 July via the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite. ️
A fully illuminated view of this well known lunar feature.
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
Image captured using a 254mm Skywatcher Newtonian, Tal 2x Barlow & ZWO ASI 120MC.
Processed using Registax 6 & G.I.M.P.
A view of the prominent crater Copernicus during a Waxing Gibbous moon taken with a ZWO 1120MC camera in an Orion 80ed refracting telescope using a 2x barlow lens.
Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using a Skynyx 2-2 high speed camera and 16-cm Astrophysics Apochromatic Refractor at F/32 on a software bisque PME mount.
LINK
Other images from this series:
1. www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51171518803/
Taken from Toulouse (France) on Nov 2014
350 best snapshots stacked of 7000
PLB-Mx camera on a 200 mm reflector (Barlow 3x)
The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over the Gulf. Also known as the Arabian Gulf and the Persian Gulf, this marginal sea of the Indian Ocean is just under 1000 km long and covers an area of around 250 000 sq km. It is bordered by eight nations shown counter-clockwise from the top of the image – Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Most of these countries are shown in a warm shade of orange in the lower part of the image. The variations in colour in this area represent the different surface types and compositions. Some areas are purely sand, whilst others are a mixture of rocks and sand, or salt mineral deposits. Sand dunes are prevalent in the central area, depicting one of the largest and driest sand deserts in the world – the Rubh al Khali or the Empty Quarter.
Meanwhile, Iran is shown in brown in the upper part of the image. The country’s rugged terrain is clearly visible, with mountainous rims spreading out across the southern part, interspersed with towns, cities and other urban settlements.
The fifth-most-populous city of Iran, Shiraz, can be seen in the top left of the image. Once home to vineyards, where wine of the same name was produced, the city hosts some of the country’s most spectacular gardens and an array of impressive mosques. It is known for its literary tradition and the tombs of the poets Saadi and Hafez can both be found here.
The Gulf of Oman, flowing into the Arabian Sea can be seen on the far right of the image. In spring 2018, underwater robots confirmed a ‘dead zone’ in this area, thought to be bigger than Scotland, where there is little to no oxygen. This may have been caused by the use of chemical fertilisers and wastewater.
The Sentinel-3 mission gathers data on our oceans, land and ice, as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme. It can measure sea-surface temperature and sea-surface height, as well as providing important data to monitor the health of our marine ecosystems.
This image, which was captured on 30 September 2018, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Copernicus Sentinel-2 captured wildfires burning in northern Portugal on Wednesday, 30 July.
The largest wildfires are in the Arouca region, a mountainous area that has outstanding geological heritage and is home to the Arouca Geopark.
This image shows two fires to the northwest of the main area affected by wildfires. Here we see a fire near the village of Recarei, about 20 km east of the city of Porto. Another fire is seen burning some 20 km south of Recarei. Grey smoke is seen drifting across the lower part of the image – blown from the fires between Castelo de Paiva and the town of Arouca, southeast of the area seen in this image.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, at an altitude of 786 km, passes over the same location on Earth every five days and is often called upon to provide data to support emergency response efforts.
An activation of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) has been requested to map and monitor the extent of the fires that are persistently burning in northern Portugal in the areas of Arouca and Ponte da Barca, some 80 km to the north of Porto.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2025), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite brings us over the Bering Sea, north of the Alaska Peninsula, on 26 March.
Seasonal sea ice dominates the upper part of the image. Ice plays an important role in the sea’s ecosystem. Growing algae attach to the bottom of the ice; when the ice melts in the spring, it leaves behind a layer of nutrient-rich freshwater on which the algae thrive. Organisms higher up the food chain then eat the algae.
In the top-right corner, we can see part of Alaska’s mainland blanketed with snow, as well as Nunivak Island appearing like a massive piece of floating ice.
At the centre of the image are the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George – part of the Pribilof Islands. An estimated two million seabirds nest on these islands annually.
The swirling clouds on the right side of the image are the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as a von Kármán vortex street. As wind-driven clouds pass over the Unimak Island on the right edge of the image, they flow around the high volcanoes to form the large spinning eddies that can clearly be seen in the image.
This image, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme, was captured by Sentinel-3’s Ocean and Land Colour Instrument, which helps monitor ocean ecosystems, supports crop management and agriculture, and provides estimates of atmospheric aerosol and clouds.
Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Copernicus (L5) is a prominent complex crater with multiple central peaks, terraced walls with slump blocks and prominent ejecta rays. Diameter is 93km.
Copernicus H (L74) is 4km diameter.
In the days when there was debate about whether craters were volcanos or impact features, some people thought that the dark halo around the small crater Copernicus H was evidence for a volcano but its now known to be dark mare lava excavated by a small impact crater digging through bright rays from the main Copernicus strike. This class of object is called a Dark Halo Crater (DHC).
Celestron C9.25 with RG 610 Red + Infrared filter. ZWO ASI174MM cooled camera.
Best 5% of 19048 frames stacked.
FireCapture v2.7.10 Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI174MM-Cool
Filter=R+IR
Profile=Moon
Duration=180.011s
Frames captured=19048
FPS (avg.)=105
Bit depth=8bit
Data=Mono
ROI=1312x812
Shutter=9.366ms
Gain=90 (22%)
Gamma=50
Histogram=85%
eADU=0.765
Limit=3 Minutes
Sensor temperature=12.2°C