Sentinel-2 MACCS L2A reflectance stability

As MACCS was used to produce a large amount of images (all the images acquired over France), we were able to make some more validation tests, such as checking the surface reflectance stability. To do that, the region of Arles in Provence (France), tile 31TFJ, is a good site, with a lot of clear skies, and the chance to be observed from two different orbits by Sentinel-2. Here is an example for a coniferous forest (Pines probably): The reflectances of the 4 Sentinel-2 10m spectral bands are stable indeed, as it may be seen on the top plot, while the bottom plot shows the variation of the aerosol optical thickness measured by MACCS. You may have noticed that towards the summer, we can see a few couples of points, acquired 3 days apart, with small differences in surface reflectance, noticeable in the NIR infrared (black dots). These differences are probably due to directional effects as the observation from two different orbits are made with different viewing angles. These effects may be corrected. We do that for instance in our level 3 products.

The overall stability of surface reflectances is clearly a good sign of the quality of MACCS processing. 

Plus d'actualités

Dates de fauche en France

En 2024, des collègues du Cesbio ont publié un article* sur la cartographie de la date de fauche en France en 2022 à partir des données satellitaires Sentinel-2.   Leur magnifique figure 10 a attiré mon attention. La version à haute résolution fournie avec l’article (2861 × 2911 pixels) correspond à une image dont les pixels font […]

Évolution du jour de déneigement dans les Alpes françaises et les Pyrénées

Les socio-écosystèmes des Alpes et des Pyrénées dépendent étroitement des fluctuations annuelles du manteau neigeux. En particulier, le moment de l’année où la neige disparait détermine le début de la saison de croissance de la végétation de montagne et donc la période des estives. Le changement climatique est en train de bouleverser ce rythme saisonnier. […]

BIOMASS, the third launched satellite mission designed at CESBIO !

After SMOS in 2009, and VENµS in 2017, the CESBIO laboratory is very proud to see its third proposed mission, Biomass, reach orbit. As always, it has been a long journey from the idea, at the beginning of the century, to the selection in 2013 as the seventh Earth Explorer Mission by ESA, to the […]

Rechercher