How to Download Free Sentinel Satellite Data - GIS Geography (2024)

Download Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Satellite Data

If you want to download Sentinel satellite data, then you’ve come to the right place.

One of the most exciting developments in remote sensing at this time is the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Programme.

Copernicus’ six Sentinel satellites collect comprehensive pictures of our land, ocean, emergency response, atmosphere, security, and climate change to understand the health of our planet.

Until very recently, this data has become available to the public at no cost. Today, we show you step-by-step how to download Sentinel satellite data.

Sentinels Copernicus Browser

In 2014-15, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2A were successfully launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

One Sentinel scene after the other, data has been rolling out on a user interface called the Copernicus Browser.

It’s now available for the public to access. But you will have to hop through a couple of hoops before you can get your fingers on it.

To be entirely honest, it doesn’t have the best user interface. But if you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to download free Sentinel satellite data.

Step 1. Create a User Account

Go to Copernicus Homepage. Next, Click on the “Register” button.

Insert valid entries for your name, email, and location. Click register. Finally, validate your email and you should be ready to go.

With a few clicks of the mouse, you’ve gained access to ESA’s Sentinel data. Let me just say that this is much more user-friendly than the Copernicus Scientific Hub.

Step 2. Zoom Into Your Area of Interest

Where is your study area? You can either do this two ways.

First, you can just manually pan and zoom all the way into your area of interest. Alternatively, you can type in where you want to go. For example, we’ve typed in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Find it in the drop-down list and the application will take you there.

Now that you’re in the correct area of interest, it’s time to find the Sentinel imagery that you want to download.

What’s different about the Copernicus Browser is that it allows you to visualize your data before you download. It has two ribbons:

• VISUALIZE: Select your dates, cloud cover, satellite, and visualize your data in different composites.
• SEARCH: This tab is dedicated to finding the right scene and downloading the imagery as a compressed file.

Let’s go through each of these steps and find out some of their capabilities.

Step 3. Visualize Sentinel Data

We’ve already created our user account and defined our study area. Now, we can filter through some of the options available.

In the left panel here are some of the options available:

• Calendar – Choose the date of acquisition that you want to visualize,
• Cloud Cover – Define the maximum amount of cloud cover in the imagery.
• Configuration – Select the configuration (agriculture, geology, urban, etc.)
• Data Collection – Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3, Sentinel-5P, DEM
• Layers – True color, false color, NDVI, SWIR, land cover classification, etc.

It’s a really nice feature to be able see for yourself what the imagery will look like before you download it. This is a big improvement from the Copernicus Scientific Hub.

READ MORE: Active vs Passive Sensors

Step 4. Search Sentinel Data

Based on the criteria that you’ve entered into your visualization, you can select the product you want to download. Each product has an abbreviation. For example, S1A is Sentinel-1A and S2A is Sentinel-2A.

By clicking on the record, you will be able to see the extent of the Sentinel scene that you want to download. To download the image, all you have to do is select the “Download” button on the right.

As we are working with large data sets, you will have to be patient with download speeds. It’s easy for the server to timeout during the download. But after completion, you’ll find a SAFE.ZIP file, which you can extract.

What are the Spectral Bands of Sentinel 2A and 2B?

We’ve listed below, the spectral and spatial resolution of Sentinel 2A. There are 13 bands in Sentinel imagery. Four spectral bands have a 10-meter resolution. Six bands have a 20-meter resolution. And the remaining 3 have a spatial resolution of 60 meters.

Here are the spectral band details for Sentinel 2A and 2B:

Every single satellite revisit time is 10 days. Because there are two satellites (Sentinel 2A and 2B), this means it has a combined constellation revisit of 5 days.

What’s Next?

After you download Sentinel satellite data, chances are that you are going to want to display it in the visible spectrum. This is exactly how our eyes see objects around us.

Each image is separated by its respective spectral band. See our table above for the spectral bands of Sentinel 2. Remember that Sentinel 2B is identical to Sentinel 2A.

If you want to combine the red, green, and blue channels as composite bands (such as Google Earth imagery) – read our composite bands tutorial.

…Or maybe you’d like to perform an NDVI analysis in ArcGIS or image classification. You now have free satellite data from Sentinel to help you.