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
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Southern Europe is in the grip of a relentless heatwave, fuelling wildfires and water shortages. Information from the Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite has been used to map the sweltering heat across the region.
The map shows that on 7 August 2017, temperatures of the land surface rose above 40°C – not an usual occurrence over the last weeks. Much of Italy, including Rome, Naples, Florence, Sardinia and Sicily has been suffering these highs. With numerous towns and cities on the ministry of health’s maximum heat alert, the Italians have aptly dubbed the heatwave ‘Lucifer’. Extreme temperatures have also been recorded in Spain and Portugal, the Balkans and Greece.
As well as wildfires and water shortages, the heat has also led to some tourist attractions being closed, ill health and even some fatalities, and the drought is also threatening crops.
The map uses data from the satellite’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer, which measures energy radiating from Earth’s surface in nine spectral bands – the map therefore represents temperature of the land surface, not air temperature which is normally used in forecasts. The white areas in the image are where cloud obscured readings of land temperature.