SENTINEL-2 image quality and level 1 processing

ABSTRACT In the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) pr ogramme, the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with the European Commission (EC) is developing the SENTINEL-2 optical imaging mission devoted to the operational monitoring of land and coastal areas. The Sentinel-2 mission is based on a twin satellites configuration deployed in polar sun-synchronous orbit and is designed to offer a unique combination of systematic global coverage with a wide field of view (290km), a hi gh revisit (5 days at equator with two satellites), a high spatial resolution (10m, 20m and 60 m) and multi_spectral imagery (13 bands in the visible and the short wave infrared spectrum). SENTINEL-2 will ensure data continuity of SPOT and LANDSAT multispectral sensors while accounting for future service evolution. This paper presents the main geomet ric and radiometric image quality requirements for the mission. The strong multi-spectral and multi-temporal registration requirements constrain the stability of the platform and the ground processing which will automatically refine the geometric physical model through correlation technics. The geolocation of the images will take benefits from a worldw ide reference data set made of SENTIN EL-2 data strips geolocated through a global space-triangulation. These processi ng are detailed through the description of the level 1C production which will provide users with ortho-images of Top of Atmosphere reflectances. The huge amount of data (1.4 Tbits per orbit) is also a challenge for the ground processing which will produce at level 1C all the acquired data.