ESA Unveils Detailed Weather Patterns of Earth in Newly Released Image

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Eumetsat have released a detailed image of Earth and its weather patterns from the Meteostat Third Generation Imager-1 satellite. The image, taken on 18 March, shows cloud formations over large parts of Europe with details that were previously too small to capture in similar composite images. The image was taken by the MGT-I1’s Flexible Combined Imager, which is capable of scanning one side of the Earth in ten minutes. The ESA hopes the FCI’s capabilities will help create more accurate weather forecasts. The satellite, built by the OHB consortium in partnership with Thales Alenia Space, was launched in December aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The speed with which the FCI is able to scan the Earth means composite images can be strung together to show the motion of clouds and weather patterns. The ESA released an example showing 24 hours of weather patterns over Europe.