From GIS to Remote Sensing
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the Sentinel-2A orthorectified products.
Images are available for free at this link https://scihub.copernicus.eu/s2/ . Dozens of images are already available covering different parts of the world (acquired during the last few days), and in a few weeks the satellite should cover the whole world. In fact, Sentinel-2 is in the Ramp-Up phase that will bring data acquisition to its full capacity.
The following is a very interesting video by ESA Web-TV that illustrates the characteristics of this new satellite.
The following table illustrates the Sentinel-2 spectral bands.
| Sentinel-2 Bands | Central Wavelength [micrometers] | Resolution [meters] |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 - Coastal aerosol | 0.443 | 60 |
| Band 2 - Blue | 0.490 | 10 |
| Band 3 - Green | 0.560 | 10 |
| Band 4 - Red | 0.665 | 10 |
| Band 5 - Vegetation Red Edge | 0.705 | 20 |
| Band 6 - Vegetation Red Edge | 0.740 | 20 |
| Band 7 - Vegetation Red Edge | 0.783 | 20 |
| Band 8 - NIR | 0.842 | 10 |
| Band 8A - Vegetation Red Edge | 0.865 | 20 |
| Band 9 - Water vapour | 0.945 | 60 |
| Band 10 - SWIR - Cirrus | 1.375 | 60 |
| Band 11 - SWIR | 1.610 | 20 |
| Band 12 - SWIR | 2.190 | 20 |
These images with 10m spatial resolution will be extremely useful for environmental monitoring and applications related to agriculture, forestry, or urban planning.
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In the following weeks I am also going to update the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin for QGIS in order to adapt the tools to the products of the Sentinel-2 routine phase.