The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is monitoring an oil spill in the Mediterranean (Thyrrenian Sea) following a collision between two merchant ships on Sunday 7 October 2018.

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia on 28 September, destroying homes and hundreds of lives. As the death toll continues to rise, the effects of this natural disaster are far-reaching, with hundreds of thousands of people seeking access food, water and shelter in the aftermath of this tragedy.

Satellite radar altimetry measures the time taken by a radar pulse to travel from the satellite antenna to the surface and back to the satellite receiver. This measurement yields a wealth of information that can be used for a wide range of applications – in particular, for understanding sea-level rise.

The drought that swept through Europe this year has hit European farmers hard. Sustained high temperatures and the lack of rain have badly affected the agrofood industry, including the important potato sector.

Scientists are gathering in the Azores this week to share findings on how satellite has revealed changes in the height of the sea, ice, inland bodies of water and more. Of concern to all is the fact that global sea level has not only been rising steadily over the last 25 years, but recently it is rising at a much faster rate.

With recent stories in the news about the devastation brought by hurricanes and typhoons to the US and Asia, we are reminded of how important it is to predict the paths of these mighty storms and also learn more about how they develop. Many satellites have eyes on storms, but ESA's SMOS mission can offer an entirely new perspective.

This edition of Space comes from the coast of northern Norway, where we've come to the Andøya Space Centre to meet scientists working on a new satellite called Aeolus.

In July 2017, one of the largest icebergs on record calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. However, sea ice to the east and shallow waters to the north kept this giant berg, named A68, hemmed in.

Feeding a growing global population is a major concern, but efforts to grow more food will place an added burden on precious supplies of freshwater. New research shows how measurements of soil moisture from space could be used to understand how much water is used for agriculture and potentially help farmers manage consumption.

ESA data have been used to develop the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Green Growth headline indicator on land-cover change.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines green growth as ‘fostering economic growth and development, while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies.'