ESA Proba-V satellite Image: Springtime in Europe

This image of Europe is a composite of Proba-V images from 1–10 May 2014. 

Launched just over a year ago, the washing machine-sized satellite carries the Vegetation imager designed after the French Spot-Vegetation mission, flown on the Spot-4 and Spot-5 satellites.

Spot Vegetation marked 16 years of service in May, and has now passed the torch to its European counterpart.

Proba-V maps land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days. 

The data can also be used for day-by-day tracking of extreme weather, alerting authorities to crop failures, monitoring inland water resources and tracing the steady spread of deserts and deforestation.

Credits: ESA/VITO

NASA MODIS Image: Springtime phytoplankton bloom in Bay of Biscay

Springtime in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France, as in most places, is a season of abundant growth.

On April 20, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the dynamic growth of a springtime phytoplankton bloom.

The swirling colors indicate the presence of vast numbers of phytoplankton – tiny plant-like microorganisms that live in both fresh and salt water. 

Although these organisms live year-round in the Bay of Biscay, it is only when conditions are right that explosive blooms occur.

In spring, the lengthening sunlight, the increased nutrient load swept into the Bay from ocean currents and from snowmelt carried by freshwater rivers, combined with warming waters create the perfect conditions to spur phytoplankton in to tremendous growth. 

The result, a swirling, multi-hued discolouration that can be easily seen from space.

Each year, typically from March through April, such blooms occur in the Bay of Biscay. By May, however, conditions are not as favourable and the blooms fade, then disappear.

Image Credit: NASA GSFC

NASA's Terra satellite image of springtime in Patagonia

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC.

NASA's Terra satellite captured this striking image of springtime in Patagonia, the mountainous region at the tip of South America.

Patagonia comprises parts of Chile and Argentina.

Although there are no borders overlaid on the image, Chile lies roughly to the west of the Andes Mountains, which run from north to south and are snow-capped in this image.