04/2023 – 11/2023

Sentinel-1 Ocean Radar Backscatter

For several years, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) provides specifications for so-called Analysis Ready Data (ARD) products. These specifications can be considered as blueprints, which then need to be transformed into actual products. 

Currently, the following radar data specifications exist: Polarimetric Radar (POL), Normalised Radar Backscatter (NRB) und Ocean Radar Backscatter (ORB). NRB is optimised for land applications. During the past years, ESA has developed a Sentinel-1 NRB product, which fulfils the CEOS ARD NRB specification. In our new project, an ORB product is being developed in addition to the Sentinel-1 NRB product, which should meet the requirements of SAR oceanography. The processing is executed on the terrabyte platform.

Sentinel-1 Ocean Radar Backscatter
The project enables us to incorporate the IMF’s ocean application requirements (regarding ship detection, sea state and wind parameter retrieval as well as sea ice drift estimation) into the Sentinel-1 ORB specification. The gained experiences in product specification and processing can directly be used for the planned provisioning of Sentinel-1 ARD products on the terrabyte platform.
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