The new year has started with a historic heatwave affecting Europe, with many countries observing the warmest temperature on record for 1 January. Hundreds of temperature records have been broken and summer-like temperatures have prevailed in numerous cities across the continent. This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2...

This image is a mosaic obtained by combining all the images acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites between 1 January 2022 and 30 November 2022, eliminating cloudy acquisitions and allowing us to observe the entirety of Europe clearly. Dark green colours show the distribution of large forests throughout the territory, in contrast with...

This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 9 October 2022, shows the Belgian part of the Ardennes Forest, a vast area home to a wide variety of flora, fauna, hills, and rivers. The Natura2000 network protects numerous natural sites inside the forest itself.

The intense heatwave gripping most of Europe in June 2022 has caused several temperature records to be broken. Even the Arctic Circle has been affected: temperatures in the far north of Norway reached the unprecedented value of 32°C.This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 29 June, shows a massive sediment discharge

A wildfire in the mountains of Andalucia’s Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, has caused the evacuation of 2000 people from the centre of the town of Benahavis. The fire, which flared up on 8 June 2022, has spread due to adverse winds and dry vegetation.The smoke cloud generated by the wildfire is visible in this image, acquired by one of the

Mexico is struggling with more than 30 active fires, which have already caused 4,000 hectares of forest to burn. Usually, the fire season in Mexico starts in April, but this year the wildfires have started affecting the country earlier, because of the extreme drought that is gripping the country in the areas of the Gulf of Mexico’s coast and in

The Rio de la Plata estuary is one of the largest ones in the world.A constant mixing of freshwater and seawater in this area is visible from space, as shown in the image captured by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on 14 February 2022.The Rio de la Plata estuary drains the waters of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, which flow through

Grenen is the northernmost point of Denmark. This area is protected as a Natura 2000 site under the EU's Habitats Directive, as it is an important migration site for a wide range of bird species.The Grenen area is characterised by a continuously forming double-banked dune system. Two seas meet along the local coast: the Baltic Sea and the North

Fires are back in Greece. A new forest fire has broken out near Megara, about 60 kilometres northwest of Athens, prompting the mobilisation of important airborne and ground resources.This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on 17 August 2021, shows the smoke cloud generated by the new ongoing wildfire.The wind has

In the aftermath of Storm Darcy that hit Europe in the second week of February 2021, regions that rarely experience heavy snowfall have been blanketed in snow. The storm, which originated in Russia, has affected Northern European countries the most, causing major disruptions in daily life.The Netherlands has experienced its first large snowstorm

This image, acquired on 25 August 2020 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites and processed by Iban Ameztoy, shows a detail of the northern edge of Severny Island, the northern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (Russia).Severny Island is part of Russian Arctic National Park (RANP), a marine Protected Area playing a significant role

On 23 November 2020, the European Environment Agency published the “Air quality in Europe” 2020 report, a high level report in which an annual assessment of the status and impacts of air quality in Europe are presented.According to the EEA's assessment, the quality of the air that Europeans breathe has improved significantly over the last decade.

Lake Balkhash is one of the largest lakes in Asia and the 15th largest lake in the world.Even though the lake is in a desert, it is fed by several rivers and serves as a habitat for 20 species of fish, 120 species of birds, and 60 species of indigenous plants.Like the Aral Sea, Lake Balkhash is shrinking as a result of the water from the rivers

The Mackenzie river is the second longest river in North America, and its tributaries, the smaller rivers that connect to it, run through a fifth of Canada. The river originates in Great Slave Lake and flows 1,738 kilometres into the Mackenzie Delta and the Arctic Ocean.About 7 per cent of the freshwater flowing into the Arctic Ocean each year

Mount Erebus is the second highest and most active volcano of Antarctica. It is also the southernmost active volcano on Earth.Its summit temperature averages between -20°C during the summer and -50°C in winter, for this reason, despite the volcanic activity, it remains covered by glaciers. At the centre of the volcano’s summit, there is a deep

The August Complex is a massive wildfire burning Northern California. It originated as 38 individual fires started by lightning strikes on 16 August 2020 merged. As of 20 September 2020, the burnt area stood at 832,891 acres (337,058 ha or 3,370 km2) and, due its massive extension, it is listed as both the single-largest wildfire and the largest

The Batagaika Crater is the largest permafrost crater in the world and holds clues to prehistoric life on Earth. This massive landslide is located in Siberia. It formed in the 1960s when deforestation caused the permafrost to melt. The crater is about one kilometre wide and 90 metres deep, and has been growing year after year, as the warming

The Bay of Algeciras, in the south of Spain’s autonomous region of Andalusia, hosts two important port cities: Algeciras and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Bay has been a hub connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea for the past 300 years.Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three

With a surface area of approximately 600 square km and approximately 78 km in length, Lake Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe. It supports a large population of plant and animal species. Owing to the lake’s many beaches and summer festivals and to its stunningly clear freshwater, the Lake Balaton area is a popular tourist destination in

In the 1970s, Almería was still a small and rural agricultural area of southern Spain. In 40 years, an area of around 20,000 hectares has been transformed into a giant greenhouse, producing millions of tons of vegetables for export to both Europe and the rest of the world.The number and volume of greenhouses are so high that they are clearly