Scylla and Charybdis seen from space, celebrating the Mediterranean

Scylla and Charybdis surrounded by disco effects, snow and atmospheric gravity waves: these are the protagonists of the shot taken from space and selected by e-Geos, a company owned by Telespazio (80%) and the Italian Space Agency (20%), to celebrate International Mediterranean Sea Day.

The image was created by combining data obtained over a six-month period by the European Space Agency's Earth observation satellite Sentinel 1. A place of ancient legends, such as that of the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis also mentioned by Homer, and the centre of the Mediterranean Sea: the Strait of Messina is the narrow connection between the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas. In the multi-temporal image created thanks to data from the Sentinel-1 radar mission, a large portion of Sicily and Calabria is clearly visible and all of the Aeolian Islands are also clearly visible, on which the strong easterly wind produces turbulent wakes on the leeward side of the islands. In the centre of the picture, a storm front can be seen along the Ionian coast of Calabria, while south of the strait there are inland wave trains generated by the currents and the particular bathymetry of the area. Along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, some areas of strong wind over the sea, placed in different positions in the different images, produce a 'disco effect' in the multi-temporal image. Finally, the snow on Mount Etna is clearly visible and in the area immediately above the strait, so-called atmospheric gravity waves are also visible, i.e. oscillations of the air at high altitudes that cause peculiar ripples in the clouds.