MADRID SNOWSCAPE
© NASA
At a glance this photo looks like it has been taken in monochrome. However, it’s in full colour. On 11 January 2021, Madrid, Spain’s capital, was hit by Storm Filomena, dumping more snow on the city than has been seen in the last 50 years. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, which comprises two identical polar-orbiting satellites that cover all Earth’s land surfaces at the equator every five days. Each of the satellites carry high-resolution cameras that can collect data from a strip of land 180 miles wide at one time. This helps researchers monitor changes on Earth’s surface.