El Niño’s Power Surged: What Satellites Reveal About Earth’s Dramatic Changes

On September 15, 2026, from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, Sentinel-3C blasted off aboard an Avio Vega-C launcher, riding alongside the Flex satellite. This marks a milestone, strengthening an observation mission that kicked off ten years ago, in February 2016, with the launch of Sentinel-3A. Now, Sentinel-3C takes its place in a growing family of satellites quietly revolutionizing how we monitor our planet.

The third in a series launched since 2007, Sentinel-3C keeps a vigilant watch over our oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere from orbit. Simply put, it delivers critical data for climate monitoring, weather forecasting, environmental protection, and disaster management. This isn’t about nice-to-have stats – ocean observation has become a reference point in a world grappling with rapid marine warming and dramatic El Niño events.