This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on 26 October 2025 shows the ‘brightness temperature’ at the top of Hurricane Melissa as it barrelled through the Caribbean Sea towards Jamaica, where it is expected to make landfall.
Classified as a Category 5 storm by the US-based National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Melissa is the world’s strongest storm so far this year.
The brightness temperature of the clouds at the top of the storm, high above the ocean, range from about –75°C near the eye of the storm to about –25°C at the edges. The temperature of the surrounding ocean is much warmer, reaching as high as 25°C. This image has been overlaid with the landmasses below.
Hurricanes are a force of nature that can be tracked only by satellites, providing up-to-date imagery so that authorities know when to take precautionary measures. Satellites deliver information on a storm’s extent, wind speed and path, and on key features such as cloud thickness, temperature, and water and ice content. Sentinel-3’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer measures energy radiating from Earth’s surface in nine spectral bands.