--- title: See a Remarkable Cloud-Free View of Africa description: A satellite captured 7000 separate images to make the 32 terabyte mosaic image. canonical: https://time.com/4341530/africa-satellite-photo/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-19T14:19:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:40:37.874Z article:section: Science og:title: See a Remarkable Cloud-Free View of Africa og:description: A satellite captured 7000 separate images to make the 32 terabyte mosaic image. og:url: https://time.com/4341530/africa-satellite-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf51f496e345ec1f8/698893e1ab6d7786126a9c04/african-satellite-cloud-free.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: African-satellite-cloud-free og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See a Remarkable Cloud-Free View of Africa twitter:description: A satellite captured 7000 separate images to make the 32 terabyte mosaic image. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf51f496e345ec1f8/698893e1ab6d7786126a9c04/african-satellite-cloud-free.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See a Remarkable Cloud-Free View of Africa  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 19, 2016 2:19 PM CUT  Using almost 7000 images captured by the Sentinel-2A satellite, this mosaic offers a cloud-free view of the African continent – about 20% of the total land area in the world. The majority of these separate images were taken between December 2015 and April 2016, totaling 32 TB of data. Using almost 7000 images captured by the Sentinel-2A satellite, this mosaic offers a cloud-free view of the African continent – about 20% of the total land area in the world. The majority of these separate images were taken between December 2015 and April 2016, totaling 32 TB of data.Copernicus Sentinel/Brockmann Consult/Université catholique de Louvain/ESA  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 19, 2016 2:19 PM CUT [Satellite images](http://time.com/4324395/fort-mcmurray-canada-wildfire-satellite-images/ "undefined") offer some of the most incredible images of Earth, but clouds often obscure the land humans inhabit. A composite image [created by the European Space Agency](http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/05/African%5Fmosaic "undefined") gives space lovers a sense of how Africa would appear without any cloud cover. The ESA created an image of the African continent—around a fifth of the world’s land area—completely free of clouds using a composite of nearly 7,000 images taken by the Sentinel-2A satellite. The images were primarily taken between December 2015 and April 2016. The imaging device on Sentinel is intended to help map changes in land cover that will improve [agriculture](http://news.health.com/2016/03/03/climate-related-changes-in-food-production-could-lead-to-500000-deaths/ "undefined") and detect pollution in waterways, according to ESA. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341530/africa-satellite-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341530/africa-satellite-photo/"},"headline":"See a Remarkable Cloud-Free View of Africa","datePublished":"2016-05-19T14:19:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:40:37.874Z","description":"It's a composite of nearly 7,000 images","url":"https://time.com/4341530/africa-satellite-photo/","keywords":["Space","Africa","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf51f496e345ec1f8/698893e1ab6d7786126a9c04/african-satellite-cloud-free.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf51f496e345ec1f8/698893e1ab6d7786126a9c04/african-satellite-cloud-free.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"African-satellite-cloud-free","caption":"Using almost 7000 images captured by the Sentinel-2A satellite, this mosaic offers a cloud-free view of the African continent – about 20% of the total land area in the world. 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