🌊 The Väinameri Sea, a shallow marine area in western Estonia 🇪🇪, is one of the country’s most ecologically valuable coastal regions.
Characterised by a network of narrow straits and semi-enclosed bays, these waters support extensive seagrass habitats, migratory bird populations, and protected coastal ecosystems linked to the Natura 2000 network, the EU’s framework for nature protection.
🛰 Acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 1 May 2026, this natural-colour image shows the Väinameri Sea. Bright blue tones, contrasting with the darker surrounding waters, indicate dense sediment concentrations spreading through the shallow channels.
#CopernicusEU Sentinel data support regular monitoring of coastal water conditions, helping environmental authorities assess sediment dynamics, marine ecosystem health, and seasonal change.
Check out our #ImageOfTheDay gallery via the link in the bio!
🏜 Rising from the arid expanse of southern Utah in the United States 🇺🇲, the Henry Mountains provide an important natural laboratory for studying erosion and desert ecosystems.
🛰 Acquired on 27 March 2026 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, this false-colour image highlights the rugged topography around Mount Ellen and Mount Pennell. Deep red tones mark sparse vegetation, while lighter beige and ochre hues dominate the surrounding desert plains and exposed rocks. To the east, the Colorado River cuts a dark, winding path through the surrounding canyons, while small reservoirs appear in deep blue.
Copernicus data support detailed geological mapping, land cover monitoring, and the assessment of erosion and sediment transport in remote environments such as this.
Discover our #ImageOfTheDay gallery via the link in the bio!
The modernist architecture of Kaunas, in central Lithuania 🇱🇹, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023.
The city is located at the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas rivers, and its heritage is closely tied to the surrounding river landscapes. These waterways, together with the broad Kaunas Reservoir, form green-blue corridors which support riparian woodland, wintering waterbirds, and fish habitats, while also helping to cool the city and reduce peak flows.
🛰 This natural-colour image of Kaunas, acquired on 5 May 2026 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows the dark, winding channels of the Nemunas and Neris rivers crossing the city before expanding into the deep blue waters of the Kaunas Reservoir to the east.
Dense forests appear in dark green, while cultivated fields and suburban districts create a patchwork of lighter green and beige tones across the surrounding landscape.
#CopernicusEU data help monitor urban change and land cover around heritage areas, supporting cultural preservation alongside flood- and water-management planning. The Copernicus World Heritage Hub is a centralised platform which provides access to Copernicus data and information relevant to cultural and natural heritage.
🔗 Find more #ImageOfTheDay via the link in the bio!
🇧🇧 Barbados, the easternmost island in the Caribbean located approximately 180 km east of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, combines urban development, tourism infrastructure, and fragmented farmland within a small territory. Its surrounding coral reefs and coastal waters host diverse marine life. 🪸
🛰 This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 2 May 2026, shows Barbados against the deep blue Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Bright turquoise waters trace the island’s fringing reefs and shallow coastal shelves, particularly along the southern and western coasts. Urbanised areas appear in pale grey and beige around Bridgetown and along the southern coastline, while greener zones across the central and northern interior indicate denser vegetation and agricultural land.
#CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 imagery supports coastal monitoring, land-use assessment, and environmental management across small island states, which are vulnerable to coastal erosion, ecosystem degradation, and extreme weather impacts.
🔗 #ImageOfTheDay album ➡️ via the link in the bio!
🏙 Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital 🇧🇬 sits in a broad valley where dense neighbourhoods, farmland, and forested foothills create a diverse mosaic of habitats which help sustain urban biodiversity.
Parks, river corridors, and forested slopes to the south form important ecological links for birds and pollinators, while also helping to reduce heat and manage surface runoff after heavy rain.
🛰 This image, acquired on 27 April 2026 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows Sofia in the centre, surrounded by agricultural land in shades of beige and green. The forested mountain slopes south of the city appear in dark green and brown, while reservoirs and lakes stand out in deep blue.
#CopernicusEU Sentinel data support urban planners, researchers, and environmental authorities in monitoring land cover change, vegetation conditions, and surface water dynamics over time. These observations help improve understanding of urban expansion, seasonal changes in vegetation and surface water, and the relationship between cities and their surrounding landscapes.
#ImageOfTheDay, every day ➡️ via the link in the bio!
🌡 The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has published its latest monthly Climate Bulletin, focusing on key climate trends in April 2026.
📊 The bulletin reports that April 2026 was the joint third-warmest April globally, tied with April 2016 and April 2020 with differences of less than 0.01°C. The average surface air temperature was 14.89°C, which is 1.43°C above the estimated pre-industrial level (1850–1900).
🛰 This data visualisation, based on C3S data, shows surface air temperature anomalies across the Northern Hemisphere in April 2026. The map reveals sharp regional contrasts across Europe, with warmer-than-average conditions over south-western Europe, reaching +4°C in the Iberian Peninsula, France, and Italy, while colder-than-average conditions are visible across much of eastern Europe, reaching -2°C in northern Poland.
C3S provides open and free access to climate data, supporting evidence-based policy, climate adaptation planning, and environmental monitoring globally.
More information is available via the #ImageOfTheDay link in the bio!
#CopernicusEU
🌋 Stromboli Volcano is located on Stromboli Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily, and is part of Italy’s Aeolian Islands. 🇮🇹
It is one of the country’s most active volcanoes, known for its regular eruptive activity.
On 4 May 2026, intense activity from the volcano’s North Crater area triggered a lava overflow down the Sciara del Fuoco slope, a steep volcanic depression on the island’s north-western flank.
🛰 The lava reaching the coastline is visible in this false-colour image acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 6 May 2026.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery supports the monitoring of volcanic activity by tracking lava flows, thermal anomalies, and landscape changes, providing information for hazard assessment and civil protection authorities in Italy.
🔗 Check out our #ImageOfTheDay album via the link in the bio.
🌾 In southern Poland 🇵🇱 the rural municipality of Gmina Sułoszowa is known for its remarkably elongated agricultural plots.
The area is characterised by narrow strip fields extending from roads into the surrounding countryside, reflecting a historic farmland structure shaped by centuries of land division and cultivation practices, which remains visible today.
🛰 This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 3 May 2026, shows alternating bands of bright green vegetation and pale beige or brown bare soils, creating a distinctive striped appearance across the rolling terrain.
Sułoszowa, the village visible in the image, forms a dense linear settlement running diagonally through the centre of the scene, closely following the local road network.
#CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 imagery supports the monitoring of agricultural land use, crop type and crop development, and landscape fragmentation, providing consistent data for rural planning and environmental management.
🔗 #ImageOfTheDay album ➡️ via the link in the bio!
Celebrate Europe Day with us! 🇪🇺
Explore the #EUDefence & #EUSpace exhibitions: discover more on #CopernicusEU and how the EU is driving innovation, security and technology development that support your safety and everyday life. 🛰️🛡️
And don’t miss the claw machine for surprise gifts! 🎁
📍 @europeancommission HQ, Berlaymont, Brussels
Find Europe Day programs near you via the link in the bio!
🇪🇺 Celebrated every year on 9 May, Europe Day marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration of 1950, which laid the foundations of our European Union.
🛰 Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the EU Space Programme, was born from that same spirit of cooperation, achieving collectively something no Member States could achieve alone, and setting a gold standard for monitoring and understanding our planet from space.
This data visualisation is based on a combination of images acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites during the summer of 2025 and shows the 27 Member States of the European Union.
#CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 imagery supports environmental monitoring and land management across the European Union and far beyond.
By delivering consistent, high-resolution free and open data, Copernicus Sentinel satellites provide essential information for tracking land cover, agriculture, forests, water resources, and the impacts of environmental change at a global scale.
🔗 Browse our #ImageOfTheDay album via the link in the bio!
🌊 The Passage du Gois, which links the island of Noirmoutier to the mainland in western France 🇫🇷 is an intertidal causeway regularly submerged at high tide, restricting access to and from the island.
This coastal setting, located in the Vendée department, is characterised by extensive intertidal flats and shallow bays shaped by strong tidal currents and sediment transport, which together define a distinctive landscape and often present challenges for local access and safety.
🛰️ Two #CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 images illustrate this tidal variation. In the image acquired on 10 April 2026 (right), the causeway is largely concealed by the tide. The image acquired on 18 March 2026 (left) shows the causeway partially exposed along its length, in shades of grey and green characteristic of low tide conditions. The mosaic of surrounding farmland provides a visual contrast to the shifting tidal zone along the coast.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 data support the regular monitoring of tidal environments by tracking sediment movement, assessing evolutions in coastal morphology, and informing local authorities responsible for access management and risk mitigation in intertidal zones.
🔗 https://eu-space.europa.eu/explore-euspace/images
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Celebrate Europe Day with us! 🇪🇺
EU Institutions warmly invite you to visit their premises and get a behind-the-scenes look at how the EU works and how it affects your daily life.
This year, they are highlighting Europe's independence and the importance of safeguarding democracy in a changing world, along with four decades of celebrating Europe Day and public use of the EU flag and anthem.
Learn more about #EUSpace and #CopernicusEU at the @europeancommission HQ (Berlaymont building) in Brussels.
Don’t live near an EU institution? Not a problem. Europe Day is celebrated across all 27 EU countries and around the world.
Find the event closest to you via the "Europe Day 2026" link in the bio.
We can't wait to see you! ⭐
