Sentinel-3C returns its first views of Earth

What happened

Just two weeks after it was launched, the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite returned its first images and measurements from two of its key instruments – a major milestone that confirms the satellite is working well and on the road to monitoring the health of Earth’s oceans, land, cryosphere and atmosphere. This first set of images contains stunning views of Italy, the Arctic and the Caribbean from the satellite’s ocean and land colour instrument, as well as measurements of the height of the Greenland ice sheet and sea surface from its synthetic aperture radar altimeter.

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 series and will continue the mission’s long-term task of delivering environmental data that are essential for a wide range of applications. As the workhorse mission for Copernicus, the Sentinel-3 satellites carry the same suite of instruments to measure systematically Earth’s oceans, land, cryosphere and atmosphere.

Over oceans, Sentinel-3 measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice to support, for example, the monitoring of marine pollution and marine heatwaves. Just above the centre of the image, the broad, flat expanse of the Po Valley – Italy’s agricultural heartland – stands out in shades of brown and green.

Key facts

• This first set of images — includes: stunning views of Italy, the Arctic and the Caribbean from the satellite’s ocean and land colour instrument, as well as measurements of the height of the Greenland ice sheet and sea surface from its synthetic aperture radar altimeter