Svalbard

See the sunset over the Arctic Ocean – from space

The very first image from a new European Space Agency satellite shows Norway at dusk – and more images from above.

Two weeks ago, The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a new satellite series into Earth’s orbit to monitor ecosystems and the atmosphere. They’re called Sentinel-3.

Now, one of the satellites have sent us its first image, showing Svalbard, Norway, at dusk. Svalbard – a really beautiful and exotic archipelago in the Arctic Ocean – has a long history as a research outpost for the European Space Research Organisation.

We find this image totally mesmerizing, with the sea ice, the beautiful colours and the snow covering the archipelago. You can download the high-resolution image here.

Sentinel-3 is a part of the Copernicus programme, for monitoring of the global environment and climate. Several Norwegian companies, like Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace and Optoelectronics have supplied technology for the programme.

Here are some more images of Norway, as seen from space.

Norwegian fjords

Like dark fingers, cold ocean waters reach deep into the mountainous coastline of northern Norway, defining the fjords for which the country is famous. Flanked by snow capped peaks, some of these ice-sculpted fjords are hundreds of meters deep. Photo: NASA

The northern lights belt

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of southern Scandinavia just before midnight on April 3, 2015. Prominent features include a green aurora to the north and snow in Norway illuminated by the full Moon. Photo: NASA

Fjords and glaciers

This image, acquired by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on 9 February 2010, features a snow-flanked western Norway, located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe. Photo: ESA

The Norwegian sea

This MERIS image provides a beautiful view of the Norwegian Sea as a low-pressure system passes by. The low incident angle of the Sun at the beginning of spring offers an extraordinary relief to the cloud layer. Photo: ESA

Longyearbyen

This image acquired by Landsat 8 over Svalbard Island, has the scope to show interesting locations of note, such as SvalSat Station, as well as the airport and city of Longyearbyen. Photo: ESA