European Space Agency unveils first images from Earth-observation ‘sounder’ satellite

27 Jan 2026 Michael Banks

Eye in the sky. Data from the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder satellite will help improve the accuracy of weather forecasting. (Courtesy: EUMETSAT)

The European Space Agency has released the first images from the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder (MTG-S) satellite. They show variations in temperature and humidity across Europe and northern Africa in unprecedented detail, with further data from the mission set to improve weather-forecasting models and air-quality measurements over Europe.

Launched on 1 July 2025 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, MTG-S operates from a geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above Earth’s surface, and is able to provide coverage of Europe and part of northern Africa on a 15-minute repeat cycle.

The satellite carries a hyperspectral sounding instrument that uses interferometry to capture data on temperature and humidity, and to measure wind and trace gases in the atmosphere. It can scan nearly 2,000 thermal infrared wavelengths every 30 minutes.

The data will eventually be used to generate 3D maps of the atmosphere and help improve the accuracy of weather forecasting, especially for rapidly evolving storms.

The “temperature” image, above, was taken in November 2025 and shows heat (red) from the African continent, while a dark blue weather front covers Spain and Portugal.

The “humidity” image, below, was captured using the sounder’s medium-wave infrared channel. Blue colours represent regions in the atmosphere with higher humidity, while red colours correspond to lower humidity. (Courtesy: EUMETSAT)

“Seeing the first infrared sounder images from MTG-S really brings this mission and its potential to life,” notes Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s director of Earth observation programmes. “We expect data from this mission to change the way we forecast severe storms over Europe – and this is very exciting for communities and citizens, as well as for meteorologists and climatologists.”

ESA is expected to launch a second Meteosat Third Generation-Imaging satellite later this year, following the launch of the first one – MTG-I1 – in December 2022.

Michael Banks is the news editor of Physics World magazine

FROM PHYSICSWORLD.COM     20/2/2026