This Satellite Maps the Whole Earth Every Two Days

​This is what a volcano erupting looks like from space.

A land-mapping mini-satellite captured the Sangeang Api volcano in Indonesia in May, when it erupted and caused a plume of volcanic ash that grounded flights across Indonesia and Australia. The European Space Agency released the image today.

It's just one of many stunning images gathered by the Proba-V satellite, which gets a great view of the Earth from space. The satellite, which ESA d​escribes as the size of a washing machine, was launched in 2013 and maps the land cover and vegetation of the whole Earth every two days.

The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) processes data from the Belgian-designed mission, and has put a galle​ry of some of its picture highlights online.

This image of Europe shows the continent to a resolution of 300 metres. If something seems a little unreal about it, it's the lack of clouds—the picture is actually a synthesis of images taken in early May. Because of cloud cover, ESA explains the satellite can only get a clear view of the entire Earth's landmass about every ten days.

But the most arresting visuals are the more zoomed-in approaches. This image of "dust" shows sand blown into ridges in the Sahara.

And this false-colour image looks similarly abstract, but shows an oasis town in China where two streams cross.

Of course, they're not just meant to be pretty. These kind of images can be used to help track climate, agriculture, and management of resources like water. The satellite can help see, for instance, that a crop's failing, or point out where deforestation is occurring.

In this image, the yellow streaks aren't sand—they're smoke plumes. Taken in February, it shows bush fires in Australia.

Other extreme weather events like storms are also picked up; here's hurricane Arthur ripping through the East Coast earlier this year.

The satellite's able to get these great shots with a sensor that has a 102 degree field of view and can see an area 2250 km wide at a time. It also has other instruments onboard that let it do various cool tasks, like tracking plane​ signals as they fly.

I guess 840 km up there is a pretty good vantage point to keep tabs on everything going on down here.