Sentinel-2 Level-2 processing: Sen2Cor version 2.10 and L2A processing baseline >=04.00

Abstract

The Copernicus 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 high spatial resolution optical data products. 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, monitors coastal and inland waters and is useful for risk and disaster mapping.

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 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 including cloud / cloud shadow classes for further processing.

Sen2Cor processor can be downloaded from ESA website as a standalone tool for individual Level-2A processing by the users. It can be run either from command line or as a plugin of the Sentinel-2 Toolbox (SNAP-S2TBX).

In parallel, ESA started in June 2017 to use Sen2Cor for systematic Level-2A processing of Sentinel-2 acquisitions over Europe. Since March 2018, Level-2A products are generated by the official Sentinel-2 ground segment (PDGS) and are available on the Copernicus Open Access Hub.

The objective of this presentation is to provide users with up-to-date information on the Level-2A products with processing baseline >= PB.04.00 generated by PDGS since 25th of January 2022.

The presentation will focus on the product format updates, the updates on Cloud Screening and Atmospheric Correction algorithms as well as on the auxiliary data used in the processing, like the Copernicus DEM90 and the Atmospheric data from Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).