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First images of Earth from ESA´s Sentinel-2A satellite

Just few weeks ago ESA’s Sentinel-2A satellite was successfully launched into orbit. First images taken by the Multispectral Instrument (MSI) on-board Sentinel-2A have now been published.

MSI has 13 spectral bands, from the visible to the shortwave infrared at different spatial resolutions (10, 20 and 60 meters). The MSI imageries are free of charge and are particularly well suited for land monitoring services.


Po Valley, Italy, as seen from MSI on-board Sentinel-2A (© esa)

DHI GRAS is already now looking forward to getting hands on the new data to offer improved solutions and products such as satellite derived bathymetry, marine habitat maps (coral reefs, Posidonia etc.), monitoring of water quality and turbidity at high spatial resolution, information on vegetation phenology as well as indicators for crop growth, condition and health.

Sentinel-2A provides global coverage of the Earth’s land surface every 10 days and once the twin satellite Sentinel-2B will be in orbit (launch scheduled for 2016) optical imagery can be obtained every 2-3 days at mid-latitudes. Currently, MSI is being calibrated during a three month commissioning phase.

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