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  • Tools (2)
  • Activities (1)
  • Documents (370)
  • Data - Sample Data (Open)

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    SkySat Sample Data

    Download free SkySat sample datasets to preview products available for this mission.

  • News - Operational News

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    Change of access to FTP-S for ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low-rate data

    As of 13 December 2023, access to a series of ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low rate data collections changed from simple FTP to FTP-S.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Monitoring the health of wheat crops from space

    Very high resolution space data can be used to improve the detection of a plant disease that impacts a major global cereal crop.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Commercial space data help to regreen grasslands in Africa

    Commercial satellite imagery made available through ESA’s Third Party Missions programme is guiding an ambitious community-focused initiative to regrow natural grasslands in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Data - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)

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    SkySat ESA archive

    The SkySat ESA archive collection consists of SkySat products requested by ESA supported projects over their areas of interest around the world and that ESA collected over the years. The dataset regularly grows as ESA collects new products. Two different product types are offered, Ground Sampling Distance at nadir up to 65 cm for panchromatic and up to 0.8m for multi-spectral. EO-SIP Product Type Product Description Content SSC_DEF_SC Basic and Ortho scene Level 1B 4-bands Analytic /DN Basic scene Level 1B 4-bands Panchromatic /DN Basic scene Level 1A 1-band Panchromatic DN Pre Sup resolution Basic scene Level 3B 3-bands Visual Ortho Scene Level 3B 4-bands Pansharpened Multispectral Ortho Scene Level 3B 4-bands Analytic/DN/SR Ortho Scene Level 3B 1-band Panchromatic /DN Ortho Scene SSC_DEF_CO Ortho Collect Visual 3-band Pansharpened Image Multispectral 4-band Pansharpened Image Multispectral 4-band Analytic/DN/SR Image (B, G, R, N) 1-band Panchromatic Image The Basic Scene product is uncalibrated, not radiometrically corrected for atmosphere or for any geometric distortions inherent in the imaging process: Analytic - unorthorectified, radiometrically corrected, multispectral BGRN Analytic DN - unorthorectified, multispectral BGRN Panchromatic - unorthorectified, radiometrically corrected, panchromatic (PAN) Panchromatic DN - unorthorectified, panchromatic (PAN) L1A Panchromatic DN - unorthorectified, pre-super resolution, panchromatic (PAN) The Ortho Scene product is sensor and geometrically corrected, and is projected to a cartographic map projection: Visual - orthorectified, pansharpened, and colour-corrected (using a colour curve) 3-band RGB Imagery Pansharpened Multispectral - orthorectified, pansharpened 4-band BGRN Imagery Analytic SR - orthorectified, multispectral BGRN. Atmospherically corrected Surface Reflectance product. Analytic - orthorectified, multispectral BGRN. Radiometric corrections applied to correct for any sensor artifacts and transformation to top-of-atmosphere radiance. Analytic DN - orthorectified, multispectral BGRN, uncalibrated digital number imagery product Radiometric corrections applied to correct for any sensor artifacts Panchromatic - orthorectified, radiometrically correct, panchromatic (PAN) Panchromatic DN - orthorectified, panchromatic (PAN), uncalibrated digital number imagery product The Ortho Collect product is created by composing SkySat Ortho Scenes along an imaging strip. The product may contain artifacts resulting from the composing process, particular offsets in areas of stitched source scenes. Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service. As per ESA policy, very high-resolution imagery of conflict areas cannot be provided.

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    Transforming space data into climate action

    ESA’s Earth observation activities are playing a key role in the revitalised global drive to combat climate change.

  • News - Data Release news

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    PlanetScope and Skysat data available through ESA’s Third Party Missions Programme

    Through ESA’s Third Party Missions Programme, researchers, scientists and companies from around the world can apply to access Planet’s high-frequency, high-resolution satellite data for non-commercial use.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Predicting crop yield using Planet data

    The world’s population continues to grow, while the climate crisis is raising Earth’s temperatures and increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events – all of which affect food security.

  • Activity - Projects

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    Dragon 2 Cooperation Programme

    The Dragon 2 Programme focussed on the exploitation of ESA, ESA's Third Party Missions and Chinese Earth observation data for science and applications development in land, ocean and atmospheric applications.

  • News - Success Stories

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    ERS' Contribution to Altimetry

    Satellite radar altimetry missions have transformed the way we see Earth and its oceans. Using the ranging capability of radars, they measure the surface topography profile along a satellite’s track.

  • News - Data Release news

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    New reprocessing of datasets celebrates 30 years of ERS

    The ERS programme celebrated its 30th anniversary on 17 July. Today, we are still exploiting ERS data and experts continue to work on improving the altimeter, radiometer and SAR data the programme acquired.

  • News - Success Stories

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    ERS Heritage Data allow for 30 years of science

    At their time of launch thirty years ago, the two ERS satellites were the most sophisticated Earth observation spacecraft ever developed and launched by Europe.

  • Tools - Apps

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    Heritage Missions app for iOS

    Download the Heritage Missions application to discover what the missions were about, how it worked and what the elements of the space and ground segment that make these missions unique.

  • Tools - Apps

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    Heritage Missions app for Android

    Download the Heritage Missions application to discover what the missions were about, how it worked and what the elements of the space and ground segment that make these missions unique.

  • News - General News

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    Improved resolution for SkySat data and extension of Planet data availability

    The SkySat satellites orbits has been lowered from 500km to 450km altitude and various processing improvements have been implemented by Planet.

  • Data - Project Proposal (Restrained)

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    SkySat Full Archive and New Tasking

    The SkySat Level 2B Basic Scene, Level 3B Ortho Scene and Level 3B Consolidated full archive and new tasking products are available as part of Planet imagery offer. The SkySat Basic Scene product is uncalibrated and in a raw digital number format, not corrected for any geometric distortions inherent in the imaging process. Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs) is provided to enable orthorectification by the user. Basic Scene Product Components and Format Processing Levels Analytic (unorthorectified, radiometrically corrected, multispectral BGRN) Analytic DN (unorthorectified, multispectral BGRN) Panchromatic DN (unorthorectified, panchromatic) Product Components and Format Image File (GeoTIFF format) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image Configuration 4-band Analytic DN Image (Blue, Green, Red, NIR) 1-band Panchromatic DN Image (Pan) Ground Sampling Distance 3.7 m at nadir (average at reference altitude 475 km) Ground Sampling Distance (nadir) Panchromatic 0.86m and Multispectral 1.0m for SkySat-1&2 Panchromatic 0.65m and Multispectral 0.8m for SkySat-3 to 13 (0.72 m and 1.0m for data acquired before 30/06/2020) Accuracy <50 m RMSE The SkySat Ortho Scene is sensor- and geometrically-corrected (by using DEMs with a post spacing of between 30 and 90 meters) and is projected to a cartographic map projection; the accuracy of the product will vary from region to region based on available GCPs. Different products are available: The SkySat Visual Ortho Scene product is orthorectified, pansharpened, and color-corrected (using a color curve) 3-band RGB Imagery The SkySat Pansharpened Multispectral Scene product is orthorectified, pansharpened 4-band BGRN Imagery The SkySat Analytic DN Ortho Scene product is orthorectified, multispectral BGRN, uncalibrated, digital number imagery product. The product has been processed to remove distortions caused by terrain; It eliminates the perspective effect on the ground (not on buildings), restoring the geometry of a vertical shot. Transformation to at-sensor radiance is not included The SkySat Panchromatic DN Ortho Scene product is orthorectified, panchromatic, uncalibrated, digital number imagery product. It has a finer GSD than the Analytic Product. Transformation to at-sensor radiance is not included. The SkySat Analytic Ortho Scene are calibrated multispectral imagery products with radiometric corrections applied to correct for any sensor artifacts and transformation to top-of-atmosphere radiance. The SkySat Consolidated Product are Ortho Collect product created by composing ~60 SkySat Ortho Scenes (Visual, Pansharpened Multispectral, Analytic DN, Panchromatic DN) along an imaging strip into segments Ortho Scene Product Components and Format Visual Ortho Pansharpened Multispectral Analytic DN Ortho Panchromatic DN Ortho Analytic Ortho Product Components and Format Image File (GeoTIFF format) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image File (GeoTIFF) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image File (GeoTIFF format) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image File (GeoTIFF format) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image File (GeoTIFF format) Metadata File (JSON format) Rational Polynomial Coefficients (Text File) UDM File (GeoTIFF format) Image Configuration 3-band Pansharpened Image (PS Red, PS Green, PS Blue) 4-band Pansharpened Image (PS Blue, PS Green, PS Red, PS NIR) 4-band Analytic DN Image (B, G, R, N) 1-band Panchromatic Image 4-band Analytic Image (B, G, R, N) Ground Sampling Distance 50 cm 50 cm 50 cm 50 cm 50 cm Projection UTM WGS84 UTM WGS84 UTM WGS84 UTM WGS84 UTM WGS84 Accuracy <10 m RMSE <10 m RMSE <10 m RMSE <10 m RMSE radiometric accuracy: +/- 5% Relative accuracy at < 10 degrees off-nadir angle As per ESA policy, very high-resolution imagery of conflict areas cannot be provided.

  • Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

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    ERS-2 SCATTEROMETER Surface Soil Moisture Time Series and Orbit product in High and Nominal Resolution [SSM.H/N.TS - SSM.H/N]

    Surface soil moisture records are derived from the backscatter coefficient measured by the Scatterometer on-board the European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS-2) using the Technische Universität (TU) Wien soil moisture retrieval algorithm called WARP (WAter Retrieval Package). In the WARP algorithm, the relative surface soil moisture estimates, given in degree of saturation Sd, range between 0% and 100% are derived by scaling the normalized backscatter between the lowest/highest backscatter values corresponding to the driest/wettest soil conditions. Surface Soil Moisture - Time Series product: The products generated are the surface soil moisture time series, where for each grid point defined in a DGG (Discrete Global Grid) is stored the time series of soil moisture and its noise, the surface state flag, the geolocation and the satellite parameters. The spatial resolution of the products is about 25 km x 25 km (high resolution) or 50 km x 50 km (nominal resolution) geo-referenced on the WARP grid. The location of the points can be viewed interactively with the tool DGG Point Locator. Surface Soil Moisture - Orbit product: In addition to WARP, a second software package, referred to as WARP orbit, was developed in response to the strong demand of soil moisture estimates in satellite orbit geometry. The Level 2 soil moisture orbit product contains a series of Level 1 data information, such as the backscatter, the incidence angle and the azimuth angle for each triplet together with the surface soil moisture and its noise, normalized backscatter at 40° incidence angle, parameters useful for soil moisture, the geolocation and the satellite parameters. The soil moisture orbit product is available in two spatial resolutions with different spatial sampling distances: Spatial sampling on a regular 12.5 km grid in orbit geometry with a spatial resolution of about 25 km x 25 km (High resolution) Spatial sampling on a regular 25 km grid in orbit geometry with a spatial resolution of about 50 km x 50 km (Nominal resolution). The spatial resolution is defined by the Hamming window function, which is used for re-sample of raw backscatter measurements to the orbit grid in the Level-1 ground processor. Please consult the Product Quality Readme file before using the ERS-2 Surface Soil Moisture data.

  • Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

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    ERS-1/2 SCATTEROMETER Ocean Wind field and Sea Ice probability [ASPS20.H/ASPS20.N]

    The ASPS Level 2 products contain, for each node: the radar backscattering sigma nought for the three beams of the instrument, the four aliased wind solutions (Rank 1-4 wind vector) and the de-aliased wind vector flag, the sea-ice probability and sea-ice flag, the YAW quality flag. The wind retrieval is performed with the CMOD5N geophysical model function derived by ECMWF to compute the neutral winds rather than 10 m winds. ASPS L2.0 High resolution products are provided with a spatial resolution of 25x25 km and a grid spacing of 12.5 km. ASPS L2.0 Nominal resolution products are provided with a spatial resolution of 50x50 km and a grid spacing of 25 km. One product covers one orbit from ascending node crossing. Please consult the Product Quality Readme file before using the ERS ASPS data.

  • Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

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    ERS-1/2 SCATTEROMETER Nominal Resolution back-scattering measurements, Ocean Wind field [UWI]

    The ERS data reprocessed with the ASPS facility is also available in the UWI format to maintain the compatibility with the FD (Fast Delivery) products. The ASPS UWI product is organised in frames of 500 x 500 km providing the radar backscattering sigma nought for the three beams of the instrument plus the wind speed and direction. The wind retrieval is performed with the CMOD5N geophysical model function derived by ECMWF to compute the neutral winds rather than 10m winds. ASPS UWI products are provided with a spatial resolution of 50 x 50 km and a grid spacing of 25 km. One product covers one orbit from ascending node crossing. Please consult the Product Quality Readme file before using the ERS ASPS data.

  • Mission - Heritage Missions

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    ERS

    The ERS programme was composed of two missions, ERS-1 and ERS-2, which together observed the Earth for 20 years, from 1991 to 2011.