A lush green countryside of pines, vegetable fields and long grasses fades into the morning haze. One can barely make out the outline of a mountain ridge that must not be far away. A rooster has been crowing all morning, and a community of rabbits thump their hind legs, signaling inexplicable warnings to each other.

Zumaia is a small town in the Basque Country in northern Spain, situated in a ‘geopark’ with one of the worlds longest continuous rock strata. It is a landscape unlike any I have ever seen, sparsely populated, and made of sharp peaks rather than rolling seaside hills. August temperatures don’t reach higher than 28 degrees, despite heatwaves occurring nearby in France and inland Spain. It is as if the landscape is wrapped in a marine blanket that literally dampens temperature extremes, while making it difficult to dry a bathing suit from one day to the next.

NOAA 15's life has been 'extended' for around another week, but as I already said my 'goodbyes' in France a couple days ago, this extra time feels surreal - like a time warp or window that may collapse or stretch in unpredictable ways.