Internet satellite images available to all

PARIS, May 3 (UPI) -- The European Space agency says it added 13,000 satellite radar images to almost 45,000 camera images on the Internet for anyone wanting to explore our planet.

The ESA has been making satellite images of Earth available to people wanting to view the planet in near-real time since 2006.

ESA's Envisat satellite generates images from the raw data collected by its instruments as it circles the globe and provides them online free of charge within 2 hours under ESA's MIRAVI service, an agency release said Tuesday.

"We have been very pleased with the number of people using MIRAVI to explore our planet. This enthusiasm inspired us to offer new images that provide different types of information," said Volker Liebig, ESA's director of Earth observation programs.

With the addition of radar images from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar, it is now possible to observe oil spills, iceberg calving, flooding and sea ice, the ESA said.

The radar can provide unique views of these elusive events because it is can see through clouds and darkness.

Images are available for viewing at www.esa.int/miravi, the agency said.