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 topicThis image shows the variation of the Gulf Stream velocities near the East coast of North America in the last 20 days. The images are updated daily and the velocities are in metres per second (to get the approximate velocity in knots, multiply by 1.9438445).
Since 22 July 2003 the Gulf Stream velocity fields derive from near-real-time radar altimeter data of the European Environmental Satellite Envisat. At the same time the mapped area was increased to show more upstream regions of the Gulf Stream.