A false-color radar image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite offers an unusual view of Typhoon Surigae: not the familiar white spiral of clouds, but the rough ocean surface beneath the storm. The Sept. 28, 2026, image shows the typhoon in the Philippine Sea, roughly 200 kilometers south of Japan’s Shikoku island, as it moved northeast.
The satellite’s radar instrument recorded two polarizations, which were assigned different colors to reveal variations in the sea-surface signal. The storm’s relatively calm eye appears dark blue, surrounded by a broad orange-yellow ring associated with rough seas and strong winds. Lighter blue areas represent different radar responses that may reflect variations in wind, wave conditions or rainfall.
According to the European Space Agency, gusts reached as high as 240 kilometers per hour when the image was acquired, with waves up to 7 meters. Bright yellow flecks farther from the eye may look like islands, but ESA says they are more likely areas of concentrated wind and rain. The radar view demonstrates how Earth-observing satellites can detect ocean conditions even when cloud cover obscures the surface in conventional imagery.
Image Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA
