Geoscience Australia Sentinel-2A MSI Analysis Ready Data Collection 3 - DEA Surface Reflectance (Sentinel-2A MSI)

Background: The European Space Agency (ESA) has operated medium resolution satellites - Sentinel-2 series (Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B) since 2015. The spectral bands and spatial resolution of Sentinel-2 are similar to those of the Landsat series, but Sentinel-2 has a higher revisit frequency and spatial coverage. A combination of Sentinel-2 and Landsat data can provide good spatial and temporal coverage of the Earth's surface and provide useful information to monitor environmental resources over time, such as agricultural production and mining activities. However, the raw remotely sensed data received by these satellites in the solar spectral range do not directly characterise the underlying reflectance of surface objects. The data are modified by the atmosphere, variation of solar and sensor positions as well as surface anisotropic conditions. To make accurate comparisons of imagery acquired at different times, seasons and geographic locations, and detect the change of surface, it is necessary to remove/reduce these effects to ensure the data are consistent and can be compared over time.

What this product offers: This product takes Sentinel-2A imagery captured over the Australian continent and corrects for inconsistencies across land and coastal fringes. The result is accurate and standardised surface reflectance data, which is instrumental in identifying and quantifying environmental change.

The imagery is captured using the Multispectral Instrument (MSI) sensor aboard Sentinel-2A.

This product is a single, cohesive Analysis Ready Data (ARD) package, which allows the analysis of surface reflectance data as is, without the need to apply additional corrections.

It contains two sub-products that provide corrections or attribution information:

• Geoscience Australia Sentinel-2A MSI NBART Collection 3
• Geoscience Australia Sentinel-2A Observation Attributes Collection 3

The resolution is a 10/20/60 m grid based on the ESA Level 1C archive.

Applications: - The development of derivative products to monitor land, inland waterways and coastal features, such as: - urban growth - coastal habitats - mining activities - agricultural activity (e.g. pastoral, irrigated cropping, rain-fed cropping) - water extent - The development of refined information products, such as: - areal units of detected surface water - areal units of deforestation - yield predictions of agricultural parcels - Compliance surveys - Emergency management