Project Proposal (Restrained): Access to this data collection is provided only after submitting and receiving approval for a project proposal. Access is limited to accepted projects that meet the conditions defined by ESA.

Access Steps:

1. Check product availability by downloading KMZ files, organised by year of the mission. (New KMZ files for the current year are uploaded every two months.)
2. Create or log in to EO Sign In (users are recommended to register with an institutional email address).
3. Go to the Project Proposal form.
4. Complete and submit the form with details of your proposed data use. 
5. ESA will evaluate your proposal (normally within 9 weeks).
6. If approved, you will receive a confirmation email with the quota assigned and instructions on how to order the data. 

The collection is open for research and application development projects, exclusively for non-commercial, non-operational, and civil Earth observation research purposes. Submission of a Project Proposal is mandatory and subject to evaluation by ESA and the data owner. 

ESA supports as many high-quality and innovative projects as possible within the quota limits. This means only a limited number of products can be allocated to each project. 

• Learn more about the quota limits and see a comparison across missions in our FAQ: How much data may I request in a Project Proposal?
• For guidance on preparing your proposal, see our How to access data requiring a project proposal guide.
• Availability and restrictions to the use of the data are described in the Terms of Applicability document.

PAZ Image Products can be acquired in eight image modes with flexible resolutions (from 1 m to 40 m) and scene sizes. Thanks to different polarimetric combinations and processing levels the delivered imagery can be tailored specifically to meet the requirements of the application.

Available modes are:

• StripMap mode (SM): in single and dual polarisation: The ground swath is illuminated with a continuous train of pulses while the antenna beam is pointed to a fixed angle, both in elevation and in azimuth.
• ScanSAR mode (SC): in single polarisation: the swath width is increased in respect to the StripMap mode, it is composed of four different sub-swaths, which are obtained by antenna steering in elevation direction
• Wide ScanSAR mode (WS), in single polarisation: the usage of six sub-swaths allows to obtain a higher swath coverage product
• Spotlight modes: in single and dual polarisation: Spotlight modes take advantage of the beam steering capability in the azimuth plane to illuminate for a longer time the area of interest: a sensible improvement of the azimuth resolution is achieved at the expense of a shorter scene size. Spotlight mode (SL) is designed to maximise the azimuth scene extension at the expense of the spatial resolution, and High Resolution Spotlight mode (HS) is designed to maximize the spatial resolutions at the expense of the scene extension.
• Staring Spotlight mode (ST), in single polarisation: The virtual rotation point coincides with the center of the beam: the image length in the flight direction is constrained by the projection on-ground of the azimuth beamwidth and it leads to a target azimuth illumination time increment and to achieve the best azimuth resolution.

There are two main classes of products:

• Spatially Enhanced products (SE): Designed with the target of maximize the spatial resolution in pixels with squared size, so the larger resolution value of azimuth or ground range determines the square pixel size, and the smaller resolution value is adjusted to this size and the corresponding reduction of the bandwidth is used for speckle reduction.
• Radiometrically Enhanced products (RE): Designed with the target of maximize the radiometry, so the range and azimuth resolutions are intentionally decreased to significantly reduce speckle by averaging several looks.

The following geometric projections are offered:

• Single Look Slant Range Complex (SSC): Single look product of the focused radar signal: the pixels are spaced equidistant in azimuth and in slant range. No geocoding is available, no radiometric artifacts included. Product delivered in the DLR-defined binary COSAR format. The SSC product is intended for applications that require the full bandwidth and phase information, e.g. for SAR interferometry and polarimetry.
• Multi Look Ground Range Detected (MGD): Detected multi look product in GeoTiff format with reduced speckle and approximately square resolution cells on ground. The image coordinates are oriented along flight direction and along ground range; the pixel spacing is equidistant in azimuth and in ground range. A simple polynomial slant to ground projection is performed in range using a WGS84 ellipsoid and an average, constant terrain height parameter. No image rotation to a map coordinate system is performed and interpolation artifacts are thus avoided.
• Geocoded Ellipsoid Corrected (GEC): Multi look detected product in GeoTiff format. It is projected and re-sampled to the WGS84 reference ellipsoid assuming one average terrain height. No terrain correction performed. UTM is the standard projection, for polar regions UPS is applied.
• Enhanced Ellipsoid Corrected (EEC): Multi look detected product in GeoTiff format. It is projected and re-sampled to the WGS84 reference ellipsoid. The image distortions caused by varying terrain height are corrected using an external DEM; therefore the pixel localization in these products is highly accurate. UTM is the standard projection, for polar regions UPS is applied.

As per ESA policy, very high-resolution data over conflict areas cannot be provided.