Digital Earth Africa Sentinel-1 Radiometrically Terrain Corrected Backscatter

Sentinel-1 satellite data collected every 12 days over Africa at approximately 20-meter resolution. Digital Earth Africa provides this backscatter product as Radiometrically Terrain Corrected gamma-0, compliant with CEOS CARD4L specifications. The data is sensitive to surface roughness and moisture, with mitigation for viewing geometry variation.

Use Cases

• Monitor forest extent and changes based on radar backscatter sensitivity to surface roughness.
• Analyze agricultural land and moisture content based on the microwave radiation reflection measurements.
• Classify wetlands and other land cover types based on dual-polarization backscatter time series.
• Map land cover changes in tropical regions based on SAR's ability to operate through cloud cover.

Strengths

• Data is processed to be compliant with the CEOS Analysis Ready Data for Land (CARD4L) specifications.
• Collection frequency is every 12 days over the African continent.
• Product includes radiometric and terrain correction (RTC) to mitigate geometric variation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus Programme Sentinel-1 mission, processed by Digital Earth Africa.

Collection Method

Satellite-based C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, processed to Radiometrically Terrain Corrected (RTC) gamma-0.

Time Range

Ongoing mission with 12-day revisit cycle; specific date range is unknown.

Freshness

Data is collected on a 12-day revisit cycle; product update frequency is unspecified.

Geography

Continent of Africa.