Digital Earth Africa Sentinel-1 Radiometrically Terrain Corrected

DE Africa’s Sentinel-1 backscatter product is developed to be compliant with the CEOS Analysis Ready Data for Land (CARD4L) specifications. The Sentinel-1 mission, composed of a constellation of two C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, are operated by European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Copernicus Programme. The mission currently collects data every 12 days over Africa at a spatial resolution of approximately 20 m. Radar backscatter measures the amount of microwave radiation reflected back to the sensor from the ground surface. This measurement is sensitive to surface roughness, moisture content and viewing geometry. DE Africa provides Sentinel-1 backscatter as Radiometrically Terrain Corrected (RTC) gamma-0 (γ0) where variation due to changing observation geometries has been mitigated. The dual polarisation backcastter time series can be used in applications for forests, agriculture, wetlands and land cover classification. SAR’s ability to ‘see through’ clouds makes it critical for mapping and monitoring land cover changes in the wet tropics.