OBSERVER: 2,000 images and counting — six years of Copernicus Image of the Day
OBSERVER: 2,000 images and counting — six years of Copernicus Image of the Day
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Since its launch on 2 April 2020, the Copernicus Image of the Day (IOTD) has published, 365 days a year, a daily image based on Copernicus data, highlighting significant environmental, meteorological, climate- or disaster-related phenomena, and the shifting state of our planet’s land, sea, and atmosphere. Over six years, the series has reached policymakers, journalists, educators, and the general public, helping to make complex Earth Observation (EO) data understandable and usable for a wide range of audiences. In this Observer, we mark 2,000 Images of the Day and look at its impact through selected images from the series.
Launched on 2 April 2020, the Copernicus Image of the Day (IOTD) is a daily publication of images created using Copernicus data, designed to make the benefits of the EU Space Programme’s Earth Observation component accessible to a wider audience. Each image provides a snapshot of the Earth’s surface or atmosphere ranging from observations of land, sea, and ice to records of significant events such as wildfires, floods, and earthquakes. Some images document longer-term changes, placing current conditions alongside historical data to illustrate how a landscape or ecosystem has shifted over time.
Behind each Image of the Day is an editorial process involving the identification of relevant events, the selection of appropriate Copernicus data, and the preparation of imagery and context for publication. Maintaining a daily publication 365 days a year requires continuous monitoring of environmental developments and the ability to act quickly to cover significant events when they occur.
Over six years, the series has reached a broad and varied audience. For policymakers and institutions, it has provided a clear and accessible representation of the environmental observations enabled by Copernicus data. Images from the series have also been taken up by international organisations and media outlets. For example, IOTD images have been featured in social media posts and news items from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). International media outlets including CNN, National Geographic, and Bloomberg have drawn on the IOTD to incorporate satellite imagery into their coverage of environmental stories. For educators and students, it has become a freely available tool for learning about our planet and its processes. More broadly, the IOTD makes Earth Observation data accessible to audiences who may not otherwise be able to access it directly.
A record of our changing planet
The Copernicus Sentinel satellites’ global coverage and short revisit times enable them to capture environmental phenomena as they unfold. Drawing on that data, the IOTD can document these phenomena and present them to the public in a way which is relatable and easy to understand. On 8 February 2024, Copernicus Sentinel-2 acquired imagery of the Fagradalsfjall eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula less than 10 hours after it began. The IOTD posted the following day provided a clear visual account of the eruption and its extent.
In September 2024, severe wildfires swept through northern and central Portugal, prompting the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The Copernicus Sentinel-3 image acquired on 17 September showed a smoke plume stretching approximately 100,000 km² over the Atlantic Ocean. Published the following day, the IOTD made the public visually aware of the scale of the crisis.
Sometimes the Image of the Day captures particularly rare or visually striking examples of environmental or meteorological phenomena, which generate buzz far beyond the IOTD itself. In late October 2025, Hurricane Melissa intensified into one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record before making catastrophic landfall in Jamaica. An Image of the Day created using Copernicus Sentinel-2 data captured the eye of the storm just hours before landfall on 28 October, showing the hurricane near its peak intensity. The image was subsequently featured by a range of mainstream media outlets including CNN and Space.com, and reposted widely on social media, demonstrating how Copernicus imagery is used in international reporting on major weather events.
Beyond natural hazards and disasters, Copernicus data enable the monitoring of slower, longer-term environmental changes which are better evidenced when observed over time from space. Some of the most striking IOTDs are those which place the present alongside the past, illustrating shifts which have unfolded over months or years. To illustrate the growing impact of drought on water resource management across southern Europe, National Geographic republished an IOTD image based on a pair of Copernicus Sentinel-2 images showing the surface area of Lake Mornos in Greece shrinking from 19.1 km² to 8.7 km² between 2022 and 2025.
Copernicus Sentinel satellites are also equipped with sensors able to detect phenomena which are invisible to the human eye. On 14 February 2026, the TROPOMI instrument on board Copernicus Sentinel-5P detected a sulphur dioxide plume stretching more than 550 km across the Indian Ocean following the second eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Réunion Island. This data was used to produce an IOTD showing atmospheric gas concentrations which are otherwise not visible.
2,000 editions and counting
Six years after its launch, the Copernicus Image of the Day continues to show how Copernicus data can be used to monitor and better understand our planet. Yesterday, 23 April 2026, the 2000th image was published, marking a milestone for the series. As Copernicus continues to grow with new satellite missions, products, and data, the Image of the Day will evolve alongside it, providing its audience with a visual window into Copernicus and insight into our changing environment.
View IOTD #2000 here, and subscribe to receive the Image of the Day directly to your inbox. You can also explore an archive of IOTD images on the European Commission’s audiovisual portal.
