Next updates of atmospheric correction processor Sen2Cor

Abstract

The Sentinel-2 mission is dedicated to land monitoring, emergency management and security. It serves for monitoring of land-cover change and biophysical variables related to agriculture and forestry. The mission is also used to monitor coastal and inland waters and is useful for risk and disaster mapping. The Sentinel-2 mission is fully operating since June 2017 with a constellation of two polar orbiting satellite units. Both Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B are equipped with an optical imaging sensor MSI (Multi-Spectral Instrument) which acquires optical data products with spatial resolution up to 10 m. Accurate atmospheric correction of satellite observations is a precondition for the development and delivery of high quality applications. Therefore the atmospheric correction processor Sen2Cor was developed with the objective of delivering land surface reflectance products. Sen2Cor is designed to process monotemporal single tile Level-1C products, providing Level-2A surface (Bottom-of-Atmosphere) reflectance product together with Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), Water Vapour (WV) estimation maps and a Scene Classification (SCL) map for further processing. The paper will give an overview of the Level-2A product content and up-to-date information about the data quality of the Level-2A products generated with Sen2Cor 2.8 in terms of Cloud Screening and Atmospheric Correction. In addition the paper gives an outlook on the next updates of Sen2Cor and their impact on Level-2A Data Quality.