France and Spain land-surface temperature

With searing temperatures and a string of record highs being smashed across western Europe, the current heatwave is all too apparent. Extreme heat warnings have been issued in several countries including France, Spain and Portugal, and deadly wildfires have forced thousands to flee their homes. This satellite image is an example of how the crisis is being viewed by satellites orbiting Earth.

This image, which uses data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission’s radiometer instrument, shows the temperature of the land surface in southern France, Spain and northern Africa in the morning of 17 July 2022.

It is worth noting the difference between air temperature and land-surface temperature. Air temperature, given in our daily weather forecasts, is a measure of how hot the air is above the ground. Land-surface temperature instead is a measure of how hot the actual surface would feel to the touch. The image clearly shows that, in some places, the surface of the land reached a whopping 55°C. Considering Copernicus Sentinel-3 acquired these data in the morning, the temperature would have increased through the afternoon.

Read full story: Feeling the heat from space