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
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One of the first photos taken by Envisat, ESA's Earth observation satellite in March 2002.
Just as some areas of land are more fertile than others, the same is also true of the Earth’s oceans, these are known as “upwelling areas”. Using ASAR and MERIS together, Envisat has imaged one such upwelling area off the coast of Mauritania, in northwest Africa. The Envisat ASAR image shown here illustrates how the upwelling formed. Upwellings are driven primarily by winds. On this image, a brighter water surface indicates a stronger wind, while surface line patterns indicate wind direction. In this case, trade winds blowing water to the continent’s edge pump deep water rich in nutrients to the surface, which causes a population explosion in local marine life, starting with the phytoplankton.