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!
One of the first photos taken by Envisat, ESA's Earth observation satellite on 22 March 2002.
MERIS has the capability to remote sense phytoplankton by observing their fluorescence. Phytoplankton pigments absorb light in short-wavelength radiation (blue) and partially reemit it at the fluorescence wavelength. This technique is of very high interest in coastal waters where turbidity makes chlorophyll retrieval more difficult than in the open ocean. This image is the very first attempt done to verify the capability of MERIS to detect fluorescence from space. It will take several months of intense field measurements to compare the satellite data to in situ measurements, to perfectly characterize the instrument and make sure high quality data are delivered to MERIS users. The first results are already fascinating and surprisingly rapid.