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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Using data from satellite sensors such as Tropomi on Sentinel-5P and GOME-2 on MetOp along with forecast models, this animation shows concentrations of near-surface nitrogen dioxide every hour over Europe throughout November 2018. Urban and industrial areas are particularly polluted – concentrations over the Randstad area in the Netherlands often reaches 40 μg/m3, exceeding European air-quality standards. High values can also be seen in valleys near sources of pollution where there is little wind.
The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, an ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light spectrometer carried on the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder satellite in geostationary, provides hourly observations to monitor air quality over Europe. These hourly observations are set to make a breakthrough for air quality monitoring from space.