Image of the week: Wildfire rages in Japan

Watching our Earth from space

This week’s image is of smoke from the devastating wildfire that is affecting the area around the city of Ofunato on the northeast coast of Japan. The image was captured by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites.

Last Updated

05 March 2025

Published on

05 March 2025

The fire has spread over 2,600 hectares (4 March) and led to the evacuation of thousands of local residents.

It is the biggest forest fire in decades and more than 2,000 firefighters are trying to get it under control.

The main image was captured by the OLCI instrument onboard one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on 4 March 2025.

EUMETSAT operates the Sentinel-3 satellites, in cooperation with ESA, and delivers the marine and atmospheric data on behalf of the European Union.

More about the fires - Japan Times

Visualise Sentinel-3 data with EUMETView or WEkEO

Access atmospheric data from EUMETSAT User Portal

This week’s image of the week is of the world’s largest iceberg A23a.

This week’s image is of Cyclone Bianca off the west coast of Australia.

This week’s image of the week is of the world’s largest iceberg A23a, near to the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean.

Cyclone Sean was the second tropical cyclone of Australia’s 2024-2025 cyclone season (November-April).

This week’s image is of the devastating wildfires that have recently affected Los Angeles.

Typhoon Man-yi passed over the Philippines bringing heavy rain, strong winds (up to 185 kmh) and tidal surges.