Sentinel-3 (L2)

Overview

The Sentinel-3 mission provides global multispectral imagery at a resolution of 300m-500m, with a revisit time of approximately two days, from 2016 to the present.

This dataset represents a global archive of the Sentinel-3 Level 2 products derived from the following Sentinel-3 instruments:

This dataset also includes the Sentinel-3 Synergy products that are derived from the OLCI and SLSTR instruments.

Sentinel-3 data on Azure are maintained by Sinergise.

Sentinel-3 data are currently in preview on Azure; email aiforearthdatasets@microsoft.com to request access.

Storage resources

Container information

Data are stored as NetCDF files in Azure Blob Storage in the West Europe Azure region, in the following blob container:

https://sentinel3euwest.blob.core.windows.net/sentinel-3

Scene names

Within that container, each scene corresponds to a folder, named according to:

[instrument]/[product]/[year]/[month]/[day]/[scene_name]

scene name follows the Sentinel-3 naming convention, which is consistent across instruments, but is documented separately for OLCI, SLSTR, SRAL, and SYNERGY products:

MMM_OL_L_TTTTTT_yyyymmddThhmmss_YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS_YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS_[instance ID]GGG[class ID].SEN3

Putting that all together, the following is a complete URL to a folder containing an OLCI product from April 2, 2019

https://sentinel3euwest.blob.core.windows.net/sentinel-3/OLCI/OL_2_LFR___/2019/04/02/S3A_OL_2_LFR____20190402T000107_20190402T000407_20190403T034838_0179_043_116_1800_LN1_O_NT_002.SEN3/

Image files

Each scene folder may contain several NetCDF files. See the complete product specifications for details of all files (OLCI land, SLSTR, FRP, SRAL, SYN, summary, and OLCI water) but some frequently-used files for each product are listed here.

Key OLCI land (OL_2_LFR) data files

Raw reflectance data is not included in the OL_2_LFR product; see the SYN product below for land surface reflectance information.

Key OLCI ocean (OL_2_WFR) data files

Key fire radiative power (SL_2_FRP) data files

Key land surface temperature (SL_2_LST) data files

Key ocean surface temperature (SL_2_WST) data files

This product contains only a single NetCDF file per scene, containing the following key variables (not an exhaustive list):

Key land altimetry (SR_2_LAN) data files

The only files contained in an SR_2_LAN scene are standard_measurement.nc, enhanced_measurement.nc, and reduced_measurement.nc, containing the standard surface height measurements, additional information, and a subset of the standard measurements, respectively.

Key ocean altimetry (SR_2_WAT) data files

The only files contained in an SR_2_WAT scene are standard_measurement.nc, enhanced_measurement.nc, and reduced_measurement.nc, containing the standard surface height measurements, additional information, and a subset of the standard measurements, respectively.

Key synergy (combined OLCI/SLSTR) aerosol (SY_2_AOD) data files

This product contains only a single file per scene, called NTC_AOD.nc, containing all aerosol measurement data and associated metadata (e.g. spatial coordinates).

Key synergy (combined OLCI/SLSTR) land surface reflectance (SY_2_SYN) data files

Key synergy (combined OLCI/SLSTR) vegetation-like product (SY_2_VGP) data files

B0, B2, B3, and MIR are spectral bands corresponding to 450nm, 645nm, 835nm, and 1665nm, respectively (blue, red, near-infrared, and mid-infrared).

Key files:

Key synergy (combined OLCI/SLSTR) 10-day surface reflectance and NDVI (SY_2_V10) data files

A scene folder for all previous products corresponds to an image with non-geographically-relevant boundaries; for the V10 and VG1 products, a scene folder contains one of AFRICA, NORTH_AMERICA, SOUTH_AMERICA, CENTRAL_AMERICA, NORTH_ASIA, WEST_ASIA, SOUTH_EAST_ASIA, ASIAN_ISLANDS, AUSTRALIASIA, or EUROPE.

B0, B2, B3, and MIR are spectral bands corresponding to 450nm, 645nm, 835nm, and 1665nm, respectively (blue, red, near-infrared, and mid-infrared).

Key files:

Key synergy (combined OLCI/SLSTR) 1-day surface reflectance and NDVI (SY_2_VG1) data files

Same as for SY_2_V10.

Sample code

A complete Python example of accessing and plotting Sentinel-3 data is available in the accompanying sample notebook.

Region information

Large-scale processing is best performed in the West Europe Azure region, where the images are stored.

Pretty picture


RGB composite of OLCI imagery from the Grand Canyon in 2019.

Contact

For questions about this dataset, contact aiforearthdatasets@microsoft.com.

Notices

Microsoft provides this dataset on an “as is” basis. Microsoft makes no warranties (express or implied), guarantees, or conditions with respect to your use of the dataset. To the extent permitted under your local law, Microsoft disclaims all liability for any damages or losses - including direct, consequential, special, indirect, incidental, or punitive - resulting from your use of this dataset. This dataset is provided under the original terms that Microsoft received source data.