The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
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The figure on the right is the first Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) wide swath image of the Kuroshio Current inverted to radar Doppler velocity by J. Johannessen and Fabrice Collard, as part of the Dragon 2 programme. This image reveals the structure of the Kuroshio Current off the Chinese coast with speeds up to 1,5 metres per second.
By comparing the ASAR image to the sea-surface temperature model (left), scientists were able to see clearly how the Kuroshio Current moves warm water from the tropical Pacific towards the coast of Japan. The radial Doppler velocity map shows the strong southwest-to-northeast motion associated with the path shown in the sea-surface temperature model, confirming the velocity pattern associated with the current.