The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

This Envisat image features one of the natural wonders of the world – the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea off the east coast of Queensland, Australia. Australian researchers have discovered that Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor can detect coral bleaching down to 10 m deep. This means Envisat could potentially map coral bleaching on a global scale. MERIS acquired this image on 18 May 2008, working in Full Resolution mode to yield a spatial resolution of 300 m.