The three instruments on the Sentinel-3A satellite are now offering a tantalising glimpse of what's in store for Europe's Copernicus environmental monitoring effort. The latest images, which feature Europe and Antarctica, come from the sensor that records Earth's radiant energy.

Launched just three weeks ago, Sentinel-3A carries a suite of cutting-edge instruments to provide systematic measurements of Earth's oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.

This information will feed into numerous Copernicus services to monitor and manage our environment.

The satellite has already delivered impressive first images from its Ocean and Land Colour Instrument and its altimeter, and now the ‘radiometer' has revealed its talents.