At the end of November 2024, heavy snowfall covered large parts of South Korea for two consecutive days, blanketing large areas of the country.
In the capital, Seoul, 16 cm of snow accumulated – the highest recorded for November since 1907. The severe weather led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights, nationwide road closures, and at least five deaths.
Snow-covered areas around Seoul are seen in this image acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on 29 November.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission is equipped with the Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI), which provides multispectral data in 21 different spectral bands with a daily revisit time. The OLCI spectral measurements allow important snow properties to be extracted with a spatial resolution of 300 metres.
Featured image credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery