Tuesday 23th of June 2015, at 3:52 CET the earth observation satellite Sentinel-2A was successfully launched (view launch video here). Today first Sentinel-2A images were presented by ESA.
Sentinel-2 records images in 13 spectral channels in the visible, near infrared and short wave infrared, with a spatial resolution of 10 m. In 2016 the identical Sentinel-2B will be launched. The short revisiting time of the two Sentinel-2 satellites together opens up great opportunities: each point on earth will be recorded every five days. This is especially interesting for the monitoring of fast changing vegetation through the year (phenology), which is a relevant parameter for the urban energy budget. And, with recordings every week, the chances of cloud-free EO-images over Europe are increased ☺
The high spatial resolution will enable the mapping of a large variety of surface characteristics, even in heterogeneous areas of cities. In URBANFLUXES we will make use of this. It will allow us, together with information from Sentinel 1 and 3, to derive the current state of the cities. The resulting maps will be the input for urban energy budget calculations
