The objective of the study is to obtain figures assessing the possibility of acquiring cloud-free images (Landsat TM and SPOT) throughout the countries of the European Community in the next campaign during a certain period of the year. Entry data transformation led to a very compact data set with an appropriate spatial and temporal resolution. Through a programme, estimations of the availability of good images can be easily obtained. It is shown that in areas of higher latitudes the disadvantage of bad weather can sometimes be compensated for by acquiring twice as many images, because of the bigger sidelap (over 50 per cent) of adjacent frames.