Wildfires in the Dominican Republic

The spread of the forest fire in Valle Nuevo National Park near Costanza, Dominican Republic that started nearly two weeks ago was considerably contained by August 5, 2014, according to the Environment Ministry. An appeal by the Dominican government to the United States for assistance was answered with funds and equipment. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this thermal infrared view of the region on August 5, 2014. Active hot spots of the fire are shown in yellow, healthy vegetation is depicted in red, and the burned areas are dark gray. The image is located at 18.8 degrees north, 70.7 degrees west, and covers an area of 12.1 by 12.7 miles (19.5 by 20.4 kilometers).

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Drought in the Sierra Nevadas

The effects of California's severe multiyear drought can be clearly seen in this pair of images acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. The images show an area northeast of Madera, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains foothills between Yosemite National Park and the San Joaquin Valley. The right image was acquired April 5, 2011, when winter rainfall was at a normal level. H.V. Eastman and Hensley Lakes, and numerous stock tanks, are full, and green vegetation carpets the landscape. Three years later, when the left image was acquired on May 15, 2014, the drying up of the reservoirs is apparent, as is the browning of the grass- and shrub-lands. The images cover an area of 12.1 by 14 miles (19.5 by 22.5 kilometers), and are located at 37.2 degrees north, 119.9 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Europe in May 2014

This image of Europe is a composite of Proba-V images from 1–10 May 2014. Launched just over a year ago, the washing machine-sized satellite carries the Vegetation imager designed after the French Spot-Vegetation mission, flown on the Spot-4 and Spot-5 satellites.

Spot-Vegetation marked 16 years of service in May, and has now passed the torch to its European counterpart.

Proba-V maps land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days. The data can also be used for day-by-day tracking of extreme weather, alerting authorities to crop failures, monitoring inland water resources, and tracing the steady spread of deserts and deforestation.

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Nile Delta, Egypt

The Nile Delta in Egypt, acquired by Proba-V on 24 March 2014.

Celebrating one year since the miniature Proba-V satellite was launched from French Guiana in the early hours of 7 May 2013.

The 'V' stands for 'vegetation': the satellite was designed to provide a clear picture of the world’s plants so their health can be easily monitored. This information can also be used for day-by-day tracking of extreme weather, alerting authorities to crop failures, monitoring inland water resources and tracing the steady spread of deserts and deforestation.

See our gallery for more images from Proba-V's first year of operation: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Proba-V/Highlights/Happy_Birthday_Proba-V

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Deforestation in Brazil

False color Proba-V image from 4 February 2014 showing deforestation in Brazil.

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Note: For a similar image showing deforestation in Argentina, click here.

Ubinas Volcano, Peru

On April 28, 2014, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft acquired this image of Ubinas volcano in the Peruvian Andes. The appearance of a new lava dome in March 2014 and frequent ash emissions are signs of increasing activity at this volcano. The left image depicts vegetation in red, and shows a gray plume streaming south from the summit caldera. The right image is a combination of ASTER thermal infrared bands, highlighting the ash-rich composition of the eruptive plume. The image covers an area of 20 by 37 miles (33 by 60 kilometers), and is located at 16.3 degrees north, 70.9 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Brussels, Belgium

Acquired on 12 April 2014 at 17:18 GMT (19:18 CEST), just nine days after launch, this first image from Sentinel-1A captures Brussels and surrounds in Belgium. It was acquired in the satellite’s ‘strip map’ mode, which has a swath width of 80 km, and in dual polarization. The image also shows a more detailed view of the city in the ‘zoom in’. Antwerp harbour is also visible in the top left. The green colors correspond to vegetation, red–blue to urban areas, white to high-density urban areas and black to waterways and low-reflective areas such as airport runways.

Image credit: ESA

Europe

A nearly cloud-free view of Europe, part of a global mosaic of Proba-V images acquired on 9 March.

Our green continent is depicted at a resolution of 333 m, with snow capping the peaks of the Pyrenees and Alps bordering Italy.

Proba-V is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.

The camera’s continent-spanning 2250 km field of view collects light in the blue, red, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavebands, ideal for monitoring plant and forest growth as well as inland water bodies.

Proba-V images are processed and distributed to hundreds of scientific end users by VITO, Belgium's Flemish Institute for Technological Research, extending the dataset of previous generations of the Vegetation instrument flown on the Spot-4 and Spot-5 satellites.

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Flooding in Bolivia

Extremely heavy seasonal rains have fallen on northern Bolivia since October 2013. Resulting floods have affected as many as 150,000 inhabitants, and threatened around 100,000 head of cattle. The worst affected province is Beni in the northeastern part of the country. In this image, acquired February 25, 2014, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, vegetation is red, clouds are white, and flooded areas are grey-brown. The image covers an area of 21 by 22 miles (34 by 35 kilometers) and is located near 14 degrees south, 66.5 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Ganges Delta

Proba-V images the Ganges Delta, the world’s largest delta, in the area of Bangladesh and India. The delta plain, about 350 km wide along the Bay of
Bengal, is formed by the confluence of the rivers Ganges, the Brahmaputra and Meghna. This Proba-V Vegetation image was acquired on 2 February 2014 at 100 m spatial resolution.

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Kumbunbur Creek, Australia

This false-color satellite image shows the Kumbunbur Creek in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 260 km southwest of the city of Darwin.

The green ‘branches’ of what looks like a tree are the waterways of runoff that flow into the Timor Sea (not pictured).

The false-color makes vegetation appear bright red, and we can clearly see how vegetation grows mainly along the waterways. Vegetation is more evenly dispersed across the plain to the north.

The image was captured by the Kompsat-2 satellite on 20 September 2011, near the end of the dry season. The dry areas with a somewhat dull color in this image become flooded mudflats during the rainy season.

The rainy season occurs during a tropical area’s summer months because of increased heat from the Sun’s more direct impact angle. Higher temperatures lead to an increase in evaporation and rising, warm air masses. This air expands and cools, leading to the formation of cumulus clouds, and almost daily rainfall and thunderstorms.

As seasons change, the location of these rainfalls travels to areas with the highest Sun impact angles, resulting in wet and dry seasons in different zones of the tropics.

The tropics are the region of Earth north and south of the equator. Some areas of northern Australia are part of the tropical climate zone.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: KARI/ESA

Flooding on the Thames River

On February 17, 2014, the United Kingdom Environment Agency had issued flood warnings for the area from Walton-on-Thames in the east to Reading in the west, as depicted in this image acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft on February 16, 2014. High water levels and flooding along the Thames River west of London were part of a larger picture of devastation throughout southwest England and Wales, as record-breaking rains covered the United Kingdom in January and February. In this image, vegetation is red; clouds are white and their shadows are black; the Thames River flows across the image in dark cyan color. The image covers an area of 17.7 by 28.5 miles (28.5 by 46 kilometers), and is located near 51.5 degrees north, 0.7 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Lagoa dos Patos, Brazil

Proba-V demonstrates its maximum resolution in this view of part of the Lagoa dos Patos lagoon, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The city of Porto Alegre is located at the top of the image, visible as a greyish tint. This highlight from a Proba-V Vegetation image was acquired on 6 February 2014 from the central portion of the instrument swath at 100 m resolution.

Image credit: ESA/VITO

Mount Etna

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, continued its latest eruptive activity with a new lava flow from the recently formed southeast crater. In this February 7, 2014 image acquired from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, vegetation is red, snow is white and bare lava flows are dark gray. The yellow pixels are areas that are highlighted in the thermal infrared channels, and indicate the hot crater (single spot) and the lava flow. To the east, the thin blue-gray cloud is ash and gas emitted from the crater. The image covers an area of 12.4 by 13.7 miles (20 by 22 kilometers), and is centered near 37.5 degrees north, 15 degrees east.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Note: For more information, see Sicily.

Mount Sinabung

Mount Sinabung is a stratovolcano located in Indonesia. In late 2013, a lava dome formed on the summit. In early January 2014, the volcano erupted, and it erupted again in early February. Tall ash columns deposited material over a wide area; pyroclastic flows rumbled down the volcano's slopes, engulfing villages and resulting in fatalities.

On February 10, 2014, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured an image of Sinabung: the top image depicts vegetation in red; an ash plume is light gray streaming eastward from the summit; light-colored areas on the southeast flank are pyroclastic and ash deposits. The bottom image is a composite of ASTER thermal infrared bands: the plume is in purple, indicating that its composition is mostly ash; the white triangular area is hotter than the surrounding materials; blue streaks are water clouds. The images cover an area of 10.3 by 19.6 miles (16.5 by 31.5 kilometers), and are centered at 3.2 degrees north, 98.4 degrees east.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Sochi, Russia

The Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympic Games, which open on February 7, 2014, and run through February 23. This north-looking image, acquired on January 4, 2014, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, shows the Sochi Olympic Park Coastal Cluster -- the circular area on the shoreline in the bottom center of the image -- which was built for Olympic indoor sports. Even curling has its own arena alongside multiple arenas for hockey and skating. The Olympic alpine events will take place at the Mountain Cluster, located in a snow-capped valley at the top right of the image. Sochi itself, a city of about 400,000, is not visible in the picture. It's farther west (left) along the coast, past the airport at bottom left.

In the image, red indicates vegetation, white is snow, buildings are gray and the ocean is dark blue. The area imaged is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from west to east (left to right) at the coastline and 25 miles (41 kilometers) from front to back. Height is exaggerated 1.5 times. The image was created from the ASTER visible and near-infrared bands, draped over ASTER-derived digital elevation data.

The 2014 Winter Olympic ski runs may be rated double black diamond, but they're not quite as steep as they appear in this image of the skiing and snowboarding sites for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, acquired on January 4, 2014, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Rosa Khutar ski resort near Sochi, Russia, is in the valley at center, and the runs are visible on the shadowed slopes on the left-hand side of the valley. Height has been exaggerated 1.5 times to bring out topographic details. The games, which begin on February 7 and continue for 17 days, feature six new skiing and boarding events plus the return of the legendary Jamaican bobsled team to the Winter Games for the first time since 2002.

In this southwest-looking image, red indicates vegetation, white is snow, and the resort site appears in gray. The area imaged is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) across in the foreground and 20 miles (32 kilometers) from front to back. The image was created from the ASTER visible and near-infrared bands, draped over ASTER-derived digital elevation data.

Image credits: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (top and bottom)

Note: For more information, see NASA Satellite Eyes Sochi Olympic Sites. Also, Proba-V’s Olympic View.

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

This false-color image from Japan’s ALOS satellite was acquired over part of southern Kenya and the border with Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania can be seen in the lower-left corner. At 5895 m above sea level, this dormant volcano is Africa’s highest mountain.

Kilimanjaro is a critical water catchment area for both Kenya and Tanzania, but over the past century more than 80% of its ice cover – which acts as a water storage – has disappeared. The receding ice cap together with deforestation have caused several rivers to dry up, affecting forests and farmland below.

In this image, bright red areas show the rich vegetation of the forested area on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, as well as vegetation of the agricultural areas and along rivers and streams.

False color allows for better discrimination between different vegetation types. This is particularly helpful when satellite data are used in agricultural monitoring for mapping and classifying land use, crop type, crop health, change detection, irrigated landscape mapping and crop area mapping.

The upper section of the image is dominated by plains in southern Kenya. Nearby are a number of national parks (not shown) that attract tourists looking to see the wildlife. Animals found in this area include elephants, cape buffalo, lion, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest, among many others.

This image, also featured in the Earth from Space video program, was acquired on 20 March 2009.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Western Uganda

Lakes and mountains of western Uganda are captured in this Envisat radar image.

The area pictured is part of the Albertine Rift, a branch of the East African Rift where the Somali Plate is splitting away from the rest of the continent.

In the upper right corner is Lake George. With the equator running right through the middle, this body of water is recognized as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty for the sustainable use of wetlands.

Its waters flow into the Kazinga Channel – known for its high concentration of hippopotami and Nile crocodiles – and then empty into Lake Edward at lower left.

The colors in the two lakes and connecting channel indicate changes in water level between acquisitions. On either side of the channel, large craters and crater-lakes dot the volcanic fields.

At the top of the image, we can see the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (west).

Its highest peak topping 5100 m, the mountain chain is home to numerous glaciers, waterfalls and lakes. However, climate change has negatively affected the glaciers, and subsequently the mountains’ vegetation and biodiversity.

To the south of the mountains, the bright pink, purple and green areas show where changes in the land’s surface occurred between the three radar scans that make up this composite image. These changes are primarily in vegetation as the land here is blanketed with agricultural plots. There is even a clear-cut line where agricultural activities end and the protected land begins.

This image was created by combining two acquisitions from Envisat’s radar on 14 June 2007, 14 February 2008 and 3 July 2008 over the same area and it is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: ESA

Amazon River

This Kompsat-2 image, acquired on 6 July 2012, shows the Amazon River in the heart of northern Brazil’s rainforest. The false color makes land vegetation appear pink, while water appears green and dark blue. In the upper-right corner, we can see some sparse clouds. The shades of pink vary – the bolder color representing thick vegetation with lighter pink showing where trees were possibly cut down. In fact, in the upper-left portion of the image, there’s a clear line between the two shades, showing where vegetation was cut. The white dots show man-made structures. With their unique view from space, Earth observation satellites have been instrumental in highlighting the vulnerability of the rainforests by documenting the scale of deforestation.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: KARI/ESA

Argentine Wildfires

Wildfires have struck the Cordoba province of northern Argentina, caused by high temperatures and strong winds. The large fire, which began on September 9, 2013, spread to more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), destroyed numerous homes, and led to the evacuation of several villages. This image, acquired on September 22, 2013 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, shows the extent of the burned area in black. Healthy vegetation, like forests and farm land, is depicted in red. The image covers an area of 19 by 30 miles (30 by 49 kilometers), and is located near 32.1 degrees south latitude, 64.8 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team