When the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite passed over the British Isles during the late morning hours, only a few strips of cloudiness were visible over the rolling landscape of western Wales and eastern Ireland, as well as in some of the Scottish Highlands.

A combination of ample spring rainfall and sunshine had left much of the landscape a sparkling verdant green, especially across the “Emerald Isle” of Ireland (visible in the enlarged image).

The weather on the Tuesday this image was taken was in sharp contrast to the rainy, overcast and windy conditions that prevailed almost exactly 65 years earlier on D-Day.

On June 6, 1944, Allied Forces launched a massive invasion against Nazi Germany, with an armada of 5,000 ships delivering 160,000 troops across the English Channel to the beaches of Normandy.

The operation was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time.

Image: European Space Agency