Sentinel-2
10m multispectral imagery, free, global, every 5 days
When to use
- Time-series vegetation, water, and land-cover monitoring at moderate resolution
- Cost-free wide-area baseline imagery before commissioning higher-resolution captures
- Algorithm development and validation against an open, well-calibrated dataset
- Long-term change detection (multi-year archive)
When it's the wrong fit
- Object-level identification (vehicles, individual buildings) — resolution is too coarse
- Sub-weekly cadence over a single point — combined revisit caps at 5 days
- Rapid response to acute events smaller than ~30 m
Processing levels
Five processing levels. Levels 1–3 are applied by default on every order; pansharpening (4) runs automatically when the sensor has a panchromatic band; mosaicking (5) runs automatically when the AOI spans multiple scenes. Specify any level explicitly if you need to override the default.
| L | Output | What's applied | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Raw | Digital numbers (sensor counts) with no calibration or geometric correction. Delivered as unprojected GeoTIFF with sensor metadata. | On request |
| 1 | Orthorectified | Geometric correction onto a DEM. Every pixel sits at its true ground position. Customer-supplied GCPs accepted at no extra cost. | Default |
| 2 | Surface reflectance | TOA radiometric correction plus atmospheric correction. Output is the actual fraction of light reflected by the ground, comparable across dates, sensors, and sun angles. | Default |
| 3 | Pansharpened | Not applicable — this sensor has no panchromatic band. | N/A |
| 4 | Mosaicked | Seamless multi-scene composite over the AOI with ML cloud/cirrus masking and custom seam-line path-finding. Applied automatically when the AOI spans more than one scene. | Default* |
*Mosaicking applies when the AOI spans more than one scene. Single-scene orders skip it.
Water masks, tree masks, glint handling, lidar-aligned reflectance, aquatic atmospheric correction, region-tuned models — anything your downstream pipeline requires. Quoted with the order.
Specifications
| General | |
| Provider | European Space Agency (ESA) |
| Country | European Union |
| System type | Constellation |
| Product type | Multispectral |
| Availability | Free archive |
| Available since | 2017 (Europe), 2018 (global) |
| Sensor | |
| Resolution | Visible/NIR (B02–B04, B08): 10 m · Red edge + SWIR (B05–B07, B8A, B11–B12): 20 m · Atmospheric (B01, B09, B10): 60 m |
| Bit depth | 12-bit acquired, 16-bit delivered |
| Swath width | 290 km |
| Off-nadir range | Fixed nadir |
| Constellation | 3 satellites (Sentinel-2A, 2B, 2C) |
| Orbit | Sun-synchronous, 786 km |
| Revisit | 5 days — in practice 5 days at equator (combined) |
| Acquisition modes | Mono |
| Reference | |
| CRS | UTM-WGS84 |
| Positional accuracy | 8 m CE95 absolute |
| Processing levels | Level 2A (orthorectified, surface reflectance) |
| Tasking and catalog conditions | |
| Minimum AOI width | catalog AOI; output is 110 × 110 km scene |
| Minimum charge area | archive Free |
| Geographic restrictions | None — global free data |
Live tracking
See all Geopera's satellites →Sentinel-2 positions propagated from fresh TLEs in your browser. Satellites rendered at true orbital altitude, oriented nadir-pointing. The emerald rectangles on the ground are each sensor's current swath footprint.
Spectral bands
| Band | Designation and wavelength |
|---|---|
| B1 | 443 nm (Coastal aerosol) |
| B2 | 490 nm (Blue) |
| B3 | 560 nm (Green) |
| B4 | 665 nm (Red) |
| B5 | 705 nm (Vegetation Red Edge) |
| B6 | 740 nm (Vegetation Red Edge) |
| B7 | 783 nm (Vegetation Red Edge) |
| B8 | 842 nm (NIR) |
| B8A | 865 nm (Vegetation Red Edge) |
| B9 | 945 nm (Water vapour) |
| B10 | 1375 nm (SWIR - Cirrus) |
| B11 | 1610 nm (SWIR) |
| B12 | 2190 nm (SWIR) |
Delivery manifest
Each order delivers as a single archive containing the following files.
sentinel-2_[order_id].zip
├── data/ 13 band files, GeoTIFF, 12-bit acquired
├── metadata.xml acquisition parameters, calibration coefficients
├── metadata.txt human-readable summary
├── masks/ cloud, cirrus, water, snow, transparency, environmental, ROI
├── thumbnails/ PNG previews
└── overviews/ JPEG quicklook
Compare with
Closest alternatives by resolution and product type.
| Spec | Sentinel-2 | Gaofen-1 | Gaofen-2 | TripleSat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 10 m | 2 m | 80 cm | 80 cm |
| Provider | European Space Agency (ESA) | CNSA / China RESDC | CNSA / China RESDC | 21AT |
| Country | European Union | China | China | China (operated internationally) |
| Type | Multispectral | Multispectral | Multispectral | Multispectral |
| Availability | Free archive | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog |
Spectral indices
168 spectral indices are compatible with Sentinel-2. The most-used: NDVI,EVI,NDWI,MNDWI,SAVI,NBR,NDRE,NDBI,GNDVI,MSAVI. See the full spectral profile for the complete list and band mappings.
Ready to order Sentinel-2?
Browse the catalog, place a tasking order, or request a custom processing pipeline through the Geopera portal. We respond to quote requests within one business day.