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Earth Satellite Views (EU Copernicus Sentinel constellations)

The site provides satellite views of almost whole earth, continuously, accessible by location at many dates, permitting to track easily any evolution.

The Copernicus Sentinel constellations are a fleet of dedicated Earth-observation satellites designed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union. They are the “space component” of Copernicus, the world’s most ambitious civil Earth observation program, which provides free and open data to help monitor the environment, understand climate change, and ensure civil security.

The term “constellation” is used because most Sentinel missions consist of two identical satellites flying in the same orbit but 180° apart. This setup ensures that every part of the Earth is scanned frequently (high “revisit time”), which is important for tracking fast-moving events like floods or crop growth.

The data avalable here are from Sentinel-2 (Optical Imaging) that captures high-resolution “color” images (multispectral) of the Earth’s surface, great for agriculture (monitoring crop health), forestry, land-use mapping, and managing natural disasters like wildfires.

Resolution may not be the most impressive if the goal is to find the smallest details, but it is very complementary to other tools and a strong research ressource to analyse a large area over time.

Depending on the area and the date, several layers may be available, from the true colors, to SWIR, NDVI, NDWI and others, to be used with the cloud filter for best results.

Disciplines: Remote sensing, Environmental science, Agriculture, Climate research, Disaster management, Forestry.
Free alternative to Google Earth Engine, Planet Explorer, USGS EarthExplorer.
Earth Satellite Views (EU Copernicus Sentinel constellations) compared with Google Earth Engine, Planet Explorer and USGS EarthExplorer
Earth Satellite Views (EU Copernicus Sentinel constellations)Google Earth EnginePlanet ExplorerUSGS EarthExplorer
Data and resolution: Copernicus Browser offers Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 (L1C and L2A), Sentinel-3, Sentinel-5P and two DEMs. Sentinel-2 has 13 bands, four at 10 m, six at 20 m and three at 60 m, with a combined revisit of 5 days for the 2A and 2B pair.Data and resolution: A cloud platform for analysis of large public geospatial catalogues and your own data. Resolution depends on the dataset chosen.Data and resolution: PlanetScope at about 3 m with near daily coverage, and SkySat at about 1 m. Finer resolution than Sentinel-2, but from a commercial source.Data and resolution: Datasets include Landsat, MODIS, radar, DEMs, LiDAR, aerial and commercial imagery, and Sentinel-2 is also available.
Analysis tools: Custom band composites, indices such as NDVI (bands B4 and B8) and NDWI, custom JavaScript visualization scripts, a cloud filter (30 percent by default) and time-lapse export to GIF or MP4. Services can be exposed as WMS, WMTS, WFS or WCS.Analysis tools: Programmatic processing over the whole catalogue, billed in compute hours for commercial use. This suits large-scale time series, but it needs scripting skills.Analysis tools: Search, filter and preview of scenes in the browser, with download and API access for subscribers.Analysis tools: Search and download of scenes, with footprints in CSV, shapefile or KMZ. Processing is done offline in your own software. Level 1 GeoTIFF is the usual analysis product.
Cost and access: Free, with a free account required for the browser. No commercial licence is needed.Cost and access: Noncommercial and research use is free. Commercial plans are offered as Basic and Professional subscriptions, plus usage fees per compute hour.Cost and access: Paid plans. Daily monitoring is sold on contract.Cost and access: Downloads are free with a free USGS account.
Learning curve: Low for viewing and index maps, moderate for custom scripts. A good starting point for agronomists, foresters and environmental scientists.Learning curve: High, because analysis is written as code.Learning curve: Low for browsing, moderate for API work.Learning curve: Moderate: you must choose products and processing levels, then handle files yourself.
When to choose it: Choose it for free, repeatable monitoring of large areas over time, such as crop health, burn scars, flooding or land use, when 10 m detail is sufficient.When to choose it: Choose it when you must process years of imagery across large regions.When to choose it: Choose it when metre-scale detail and frequent revisits justify a commercial budget.When to choose it: Choose it when you need Landsat archives or other US federal data products.

Topics covered: Earth Observation, Copernicus, Sentinel Satellites, Multispectral Imaging, High Revisit Time, Environmental Monitoring, Climate Change, Agricultural Monitoring, Land-Use Mapping, Natural Disaster Management, Optical Imaging, Remote Sensing, SWIR, NDVI, NDWI, Cloud Filtering, Data Accessibility, Free and Open Data ISO 19115, ISO 19130, ISO 19157, ISO 19139, and ISO 19126..

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