The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured this image of the Mediterranean hurricane, or ‘Medicane,’ crossing the Ionian Sea and approaching Greece yesterday 17 September at 10:48 CEST. Medicane Ianos, set to make landfall over Greece today, is expected to bring hurricane-force winds and heavy rain.
Medicanes are similar in form to hurricanes and typhoons, but can form over cooler waters. While hurricanes move east to west, medicanes move from west to east.
Sentinel-3 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. Each satellite’s instrument package includes an optical sensor to monitor changes in the colour of Earth’s surfaces.