Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

The subtropical Canary Islands off Africa’s west coast are pictured in this image, acquired on 8 September 2011 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). To the north, multiple contrails can be seen over the dark blue water. To the east, the desert flatlands of Morocco and the Western Sahara are visible. The Portuguese archipelago, Madeira, lies to the northwest.

Credits: ESA