Arctic glaciers are shrinking. Rivers in the Amazon have fallen to historic lows. Wildfires are producing smoke that can travel hundreds of kilometres beyond the landscapes where they begin.
Together, these events reveal how environmental pressures are reshaping ecosystems across the planet. They are also increasingly visible from space, where Earth observation satellites provide a perspective that would have been impossible only a few decades ago.
As World Environment Day is marked on 5 June, the ability to monitor the planet from orbit has become an important tool for understanding climate and environmental risks. The annual observance was established by the United Nations following the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, which helped place environmental protection on the international agenda and led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
More than 50 years later, many of the environmental challenges that concerned delegates in Stockholm can be observed directly from space. Satellites now track shrinking glaciers, changing coastlines, stressed vegetation and rivers that expand and contract with drought and flood, building records that span decades and entire continents.
This year, World Environment Day is held under the theme ‘Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future’, highlighting the role of healthy ecosystems in supporting climate resilience and sustainable development.
Seen side by side, today’s satellite image presents three very different landscapes: wildfire-scarred terrain in northern Spain, drought-stricken waterways in the Amazon Basin and retreating ice in the high Arctic. Together, the scenes offer a glimpse of how environmental pressures are affecting different regions of the world.
Wildfires, drought and changing landscapes
The first scene captures the aftermath of severe wildfires that affected northern Spain and neighbouring Portugal during August 2025. Fire has long been part of Mediterranean ecosystems, but recent years have brought increasingly destructive fire seasons linked to prolonged dry conditions and periods of extreme heat.
The 2025 fires stood out because of both their scale and their atmospheric impact. According to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), fires across northern Spain and Portugal generated roughly half of Europe’s wildfire emissions during the period. Spain also recorded its highest annual wildfire-emissions total in the 23-year CAMS dataset.
The consequences extended well beyond the burned areas. Smoke plumes drifted across western Europe, affecting air quality hundreds of kilometres from the fire zones. Forests, grasslands and local communities were affected, while satellite observations helped authorities map burned land, track smoke movement and assess damage as the fires unfolded.
Thousands of kilometres away, another environmental crisis was developing in the Amazon Basin. During 2024, large parts of the region experienced one of the most severe drought episodes ever recorded. Water levels fell sharply across major river systems, exposing sandbars and riverbanks that would normally remain submerged.
Among the most affected waterways was the Rio Negro, one of the Amazon‘s largest tributaries. Near Manaus, the river reached its lowest level in more than 120 years of observations. For many communities that depend on rivers as their primary transport network, the drought disrupted access to food supplies, healthcare and other essential services.
The drought offered a stark contrast to the image many people associate with the Amazon. In a region defined by water, river channels narrowed, shorelines expanded and communities found themselves increasingly isolated. From space, shrinking waterways revealed the scale of an event that stretched across one of the world’s largest river basins.
The Arctic as a climate indicator
The third scene shifts to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago situated between mainland Europe and the North Pole. Few places provide a clearer picture of how the Arctic is changing.
Scientists often view Svalbard as an early indicator of broader Arctic trends because warming there is occurring much faster than the global average. Its glaciers and icecaps respond directly to changes in temperature and snowfall, making them visible markers of a changing climate.
By the end of the 2025 summer melt season, satellite imagery showed reduced ice cover across parts of the archipelago following another season of unusually warm conditions. Researchers have documented widespread glacier retreat across Svalbard in recent decades, reflecting changes seen across much of the Arctic.
As snow and ice retreat, darker surfaces are exposed beneath them. These surfaces absorb more solar energy, reinforcing warming and accelerating further melting. The process has made Svalbard one of the most closely studied polar regions and an important reference point for understanding how Arctic environments are evolving.
Why environmental monitoring matters
Although the three scenes depict very different places, they share a common thread. Whether tracking wildfire emissions in southern Europe, monitoring drought in the Amazon or measuring ice retreat in the Arctic, scientists rely on long-term observations to identify trends, understand impacts and support decision-making.
The same information is also used beyond research. Satellite data help emergency managers map burned areas during wildfires, assess drought conditions, monitor glacier change and support responses to environmental hazards. What once depended largely on local observations and field surveys can now be followed consistently across continents and over decades.
More than 50 years after the first World Environment Day, satellites provide a perspective that the delegates gathered in Stockholm could scarcely have imagined. From the forests of the Iberian Peninsula to the waterways of the Amazon and the ice-covered landscapes of Svalbard, Earth observation programmes such as Copernicus reveal a planet in motion.
Featured image credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery
