OPERA
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Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA)
The OPERA project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was created to address high-priority requests from the NASA Satellite Needs Working Group and its partners for products generated from space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical sensors. Three products were identified:
- Near-global* Dynamic Surface Water Extent products
- Near-global Surface Disturbance products
- North America* Surface Displacement products
“Near-global” corresponds to all landmasses excluding Antarctica. “North America *” corresponds to the United States and U.S. Territories, Canada within 200 km of the U.S. border, and all mainland countries from the southern U.S. border up to and including Panama.
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Overview
Level-3 SAR and Optical data products
Near-global Dynamic Surface Water eXtent (DSWx) product suite
- Utilizes Sentinel-1 SAR/ NISAR (products available in a future release) and Harmonized Landsat-8 / Sentinel-2 optical data
- Products available through the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC)
Near-global Surface Disturbance (DIST) product suite
- Utilizes Sentinel-1 SAR and Harmonized Landsat-8/9 and Sentinel-2 optical data
- Products available through the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
North America Surface Displacement (DISP) product suite
- Utilizes Sentinel-1 and NISAR Interferometric SAR data (products available in a future release)
- Products will be available through the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (ASF DAAC)
Level-2 SAR data products
- Near-global land surface Radiometric Terrain Corrected (RTC) SAR backscatter product
- Near-global land surface Radiometric Terrain Corrected (RTC) SAR backscatter static layers product
- North America Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) product
- North America Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) static layers product
All Level-2 OPERA data products are distributed by the ASF DAAC
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User Guides and Technical Documentation
CSLC-S1 Product Specification Document
The CSLC-S1 Product Specification document describes the specifications of the OPERA Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) product that uses Sentinel-1 SLC products as the primary image-based input. Accordingly, this data product is referred to by the short name CSLC-S1.
CSLC-S1-STATIC Product Specification Document
The CSLC-S1-Static Product Specification document describes the specifications of the OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 (CSLC-S1) Static Layers (CSLC-S1-STATIC) product. It is distributed separately from the CSLC-S1 products, and it is only produced once (or a limited amount of times) for CSLC-S1 products characterized by the same burst identification string, i.e., for all the Sentinel-1 bursts covering the same geographical area on the ground. The CSLC-S1-STATIC contains both data raster layers (e.g., geocoded geometry layers) and product metadata.
CSLC-S1 Product Calibration/Validation (CalVal) Database
OPERA_CSLC_Calval_Database.zip: This file contains the calibration/validation (CalVal) database for the OPERA CSLC-S1 product. The CalVal database is a zip file that contains:
- Ancillary data products needed for validation, tables with CSLC-S1 product metadata (including links to the CSLC-S1 CalVal collections and static layers)
- Validation reports detailing the results of the validation process,
- A CalVal database reference document that details the contents of the database
This database is designed to be read and used by the OPERA CSLC CalVal GitHub repository to reproduce the validation process and results. Products can be downloaded here.
CSLC_S1 Bursts
The burst database is an SQLite file generated by the OPERA ADT containing relevant information on the bursts acquired worldwide throughout the duration of the S1-A/B mission. Since the S1-A/B sensors perform systematic burst acquisitions, the burst geographical location on the ground is almost identical at each pass. Therefore, each burst can be identified by a unique alphanumeric string called a burst identification number or burst ID. The burst database includes the burst ID for all the bursts generated throughout the S1-A/B mission; each burst ID follows the same convention adopted by ESA in the generation of their burst map. The burst database includes other relevant processing information, such as the relative orbit number, the corner coordinates, and the projection system of the geographical grid, which generates each CSLC-S1 product.
Using the burst database while producing CSLC-S1 products guarantees that a time series of CSLC-S1 products characterized by the same burst ID shares the same geographical grid, i.e., they can be differenced pixel-wise. These products can be downloaded directly from an S3 bucket here.
The burst database is generated by the OPERA ADT and is available from the GitHub repository. The script inputs the ESA burst map (IW mode, in SpatiaLite format). The ESA burst map can be downloaded here.
Interactive Guides
- Visualization Guide — Illustrates how users can manipulate products in the open-source QGIS software
- Jupyter Notebook Tutorials — Introductory guides written in a Jupyter Notebook environment that showcases select applications
- Tutorial 1: How to generate interferograms (without having to download OPERA CSLC-S1 products locally). This example is for the Ridgecrest Earthquake, California, USA, from July 2019.
Note: NISAR is scheduled to be launched in 2025
RTC-S1 Product Specification Document
The RTC-S1 Product Specification document describes the specifications of the OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected (RTC) product that uses Sentinel-1 SLC data as the primary image-based input.
RTC-S1-STATIC Product Specification Document
The RTC-S1-Static Product Specification document describes the specifications of the OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 (RTC-S1) Static Layers (RTC-S1-STATIC) product. The RTC-S1-STATIC product provides radar geometry layers, such as local incidence angle or incidence angle, that describe the Sentinel-1 acquisition geometry associated with the OPERA RTC-S1 products with the same burst ID.
RTC-S1 Product Calibration/Validation (CalVal) Database
OPERA_RTC_Calval_Database.zip: This file contains the calibration/validation (CalVal) database for the OPERA RTC-S1 product. The CalVal database is a zip file that contains:
- Ancillary data products needed for validation
- Tables with RTC-S1 product metadata (including links to the RTC-S1 CalVal collections and static layers)
- Validation reports detailing the results of the validation process
- A CalVal database reference document that details the contents of the database
This database is designed to be read and used by the OPERA RTC CalVal GitHub repository to reproduce the validation process and results. Products can be downloaded here.
RTC-S1 Bursts
The SAS requires a burst database (SQLite file) for operations so that RTC-S1 products with the same bust IDs have the same map projection and geographic grid. The burst database is generated by the OPERA ADT and is available from the GitHub repository. Products can be downloaded directly from an S3 bucket here. The script inputs the ESA burst map (IWmode, in SpatiaLite format). The ESA burst map can be downloaded here.
Interactive Guides
- Jupyter Notebook Tutorials — Introductory guides written in a Jupyter Notebook environment that showcases select applications
- Tutorial 1: How to mosaic and visualize RTC-S1 images
- ASF StoryMap Tutorials
- OPERA Sentinel-1 RTC — Cloud-Optimized Access for Sentinel-1 Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter Products from OPERA
- This tutorial illustrates different ways to access and explore the RTC-S1 products, including workflows that allow you to interact with these cloud-optimized rasters directly in cloud storage without downloading them first
- Change Detection using OPERA Sentinel-1 RTC
- Change Detection workflow for OPERA Radiometric Terrain-Corrected products from Sentinel-1 (RTC-S1)
- OPERA Sentinel-1 RTC — Cloud-Optimized Access for Sentinel-1 Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter Products from OPERA
Note: The DISP-S1 products will be available in 2024
Note: NISAR is scheduled to be launched in 2025
Sentinel-1 Level-2 Products
Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 (CSLC-S1)
The Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) product consists of SLC images that are precisely aligned or “coregistered” to a pre-defined UTM/Polar stereographic map projection system. The CSLC images contain both the amplitude and phase information of the complex radar return. The Level-2 CSLC product is derived from Sentinel-1 data and is provided in HDF5 format. The CSLC product also serves as the basis for the OPERA Displacement (DISP) product.
Property | Value |
---|---|
Product Name | Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 |
Product Short Name | L2_CSLC-S1 |
Satellite Platform | Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B |
Sensor (center frequency) | C-Band SAR (5.405 GHz) |
Temporal Coverage | 2014-present |
Spatial Coverage | USA and U.S. Territories, Canada within 200 km of the U.S. border, and all mainland countries from the southern U.S. border down to and including Panama. |
Repeat Period | 6-12 days |
Acquisition Mode | IW |
Data Source | Sentinel-1 SLC burst |
Data Projection | UTM/WGS84 map grid |
Spatial Resolution | 10m × 5m (azimuth x range) |
Product Format | HDF5 |
Version | 1.0 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1_V1 |
Data Provider | OPERA Data System |
Data Distributor | ASF DAAC |
Download information | ASF Data Discovery |
Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 Static Layers (CSLC-S1-STATIC)
The CSLC-ST-S1 product serves as an ancillary product to the OPERA Level 2 Single Look Complex (CSLC-S1) products and is distributed separately from the CSLC-S1 products. It is only produced once (or a limited amount of times) for CSLC-S1 products characterized by the same burst identification string i.e., for all the S1-A/B bursts covering the same geographical area on the ground.
Property | Value |
---|---|
Product Name | Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 Static Layers |
Product Short Name | L2_CSLC-S1-STATIC |
Satellite Platform | Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B |
Sensor (center frequency) | C-Band SAR (5.405 GHz) |
Temporal Coverage | 2014-present |
Spatial Coverage | USA and U.S Territories, Canada within 200 km of the U.S. border, and all mainland countries from the southern U.S. border down to and including Panama. |
Repeat Period | 6-12 days |
Acquisition Mode | IW |
Data Source | Sentinel-1 SLC burst |
Data Projection | UTM/WGS84 map grid |
DEM | Copernicus GLO-30 |
Spatial Resolution | 10m × 5m (azimuth x range) |
Layers | East (Range) LOS North (Azimuth) LOS Local Incidence Angle Layover Shadow Mask |
Product Format | HDF5 |
Version | 1.0 |
DOI | 10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1-STATIC_V1 |
Data Provider | OPERA Data System |
Data Distributor | ASF DAAC |
Download information | ASF Data Discovery |
Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected from Sentinel-1 (RTC-S1)
The Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter product consists of Sentinel-1 radar backscatter data normalized with respect to the topography. It is a Level-2 product that is projected onto a pre-defined UTM/Polar stereographic map projection system. The Copernicus Global 30 m (GLO-30) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is the reference DEM used to correct for the impacts of topography and to geocode the product. The product is provided in a GeoTIFF file format.
Property | Value |
---|---|
Product Name | Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected Backscatter from Sentinel-1 |
Product Short Name | L2_RTC-S1 |
Satellite Platform | Sentinel-1A |
Sensor (center frequency) | C-Band SAR (5.405 GHz) |
Temporal Coverage | October 2023-present |
Spatial Coverage | Near Global (all land masses excluding Antarctica) |
Repeat Period | 12 days |
Acquisition Mode | IW |
Data Source | Sentinel-1 SLC burst |
Data Projection | UTM/ Polar stereographic map grid |
DEM | Copernicus GLO-30 |
Spatial Resolution | 30-meter |
Product Format | Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) |
Version | 1.0 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1_V1 |
Data Provider | OPERA Data System |
Data Distributor | ASF DAAC |
Download information | ASF Data Discovery |
Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected SAR from Sentinel-1 Static Layers (RTC-S1-STATIC)
The Radiometric Terrain Corrected (RTC-S1) SAR Backscatter Static Layers product is a Level 2 product that contains static radar geometry layers associated with the RTC-S1 product.
Property | Value |
---|---|
Product Name | Level-2 Radiometric Terrain-Corrected SAR from Sentinel-1 Static Layers |
Product Short Name | RTC-S1-STATIC |
Satellite Platform | Sentinel-1A |
Sensor (center frequency) | C-Band SAR (5.405 GHz) |
Temporal Coverage | October 2023-present |
Spatial Coverage | Near Global (all land masses excluding Antarctica) |
Repeat Period | 6-12 days |
Acquisition Mode | IW |
Data Source | Sentinel-1 SLC burst |
Data Projection | UTM/ Polar stereographic map grid |
DEM | Copernicus GLO-30 |
Spatial Resolution | 30-meter |
Layers | Incidence angle Local-incidence angle No. of looks Mask layer RTC Area Normalization Factor (ANF) gamma0 to beta0 RTC Area Normalization Factor (ANF) gamma0 to sigma0 |
Product Format | Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) |
Version | 1.0 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1-STATIC_V1 |
Data Provider | OPERA Data System |
Data Distributor | ASF DAAC |
Download information | ASF Data Discovery |
Citation Information
Product | Format |
---|---|
CSLC-S1 | OPERA. 2023. OPERA Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1. Fairbanks, Alaska USA. NASA Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1_V1 [Date Accessed]. |
CSLC-S1 Static Layers | OPERA. 2023. OPERA Level-2 Coregistered Single-Look Complex Static Layers from Sentinel-1. Fairbanks, Alaska USA. NASA Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1-STATIC_V1 [Date Accessed]. |
RTC-S1 | OPERA. 2023. OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain Corrected from Sentinel-1. Fairbanks, Alaska USA. NASA Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1_V1 [Date Accessed]. |
RTC-S1 Static Layers | OPERA. 2023. OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain Corrected Static Layers from Sentinel-1. Fairbanks, Alaska USA. NASA Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1-STATIC_V1 [Date Accessed]. |
Discover OPERA products
The OPERA L-3 North America Land Surface Displacement product and L-2 CSLC and RTC products can be accessed at ASF DAAC
Data Discovery Tools
Data Discovery Tool | Link |
---|---|
ASF Vertex Data Search | Vertex |
Python Search Module | asf_search |
ASF Search API | ASF Search API |
NASA Earthdata Search | Earthdata Search |
Learn more about ASF Data Discovery Services
OPERA products can also be directly accessed from AWS
Note: Access is available IN REGION only
Dataset | AWS Region | Bucket/Object Prefix – PRODUCTS | Bucket/Object Prefix – BROWSE | Authentication | Documentation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CSLC | US-WEST-2 | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-products/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1/ | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-browse/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1/ | Get AWS S3 Credentials | README file |
CSLC Static Layers | US-WEST-2 | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-products/OPERA_L2_CSLC-S1_STATIC/ | N/A | Get AWS S3 Credentials | README file |
RTC | US-WEST-2 | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-products/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1/ | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-browse/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1/ | Get AWS S3 Credentials | README file |
RTC Static Layers | US-WEST-2 | asf-cumulus-prod-opera-products/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1_STATIC/ | N/A | Get AWS S3 Credentials | README file |
Surface Displacement (DISP) | US-WEST-2 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |