CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - Sentinel-3 A -
Full Name Sentinel-3 A
aka S3A
Status Operational (nominal)
Mission Agencies ESA, COM, EUMETSAT Launch Date 16 Feb 2016
Mission Links mission site EOL Date Mar 2026
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 41335 (TLE)
International Designator 2016-011A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 101 minutes
Orbit Sense Ascending Orbit Inclination 98.65 deg
Orbit Altitude 807 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 10:00 Repeat Cycle 27 days
Objectives and Applications Sentinel-3 supports global land and ocean monitoring services, in particular: sea/land colour data and surface temperature; sea surface and land ice topography; coastal zones, inland water and sea ice topography; vegetation products.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols OLCI
Atmospheric Humidity Fields SRAL
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature OLCI
Cloud particle properties and profile OLCI
Radiation budget OLCI
Atmospheric Temperature Fields OLCI
Gravity and Magnetic FieldsGravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements SRAL
LandAlbedo and reflectance OLCI
Landscape topography SRAL
Vegetation OLCI
Surface temperature (land) SLSTR
Multi-purpose imagery (land) OLCI, SLSTR
OceanOcean colour/biology OLCI
Ocean topography/currents SRAL
Ocean surface winds SRAL
Surface temperature (ocean) SLSTR
Ocean wave height and spectrum SRAL
Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) OLCI
Snow & IceIce sheet topography SRAL
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness SLSTR, SRAL
Mission Instruments
DGXX-S - Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite-New Generation XX-S
OLCI - Ocean and Land Colour Imager
SLSTR - Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer
SRAL - SAR Radar Altimeter
Featured Datasets
More Datasets
OLCI L1b
Jan-2024
Two L1b OLCI products coming from the L1 processor are delivered to users: the Earh Observation processing mode products in Full and Reduced resolution. They contain calibrated, ortho-geolocated and spatially re-gridded Top Of Atmosphere radiances for the 21 OLCI spectral bands. The associated uncertainty estimates are also contained in the measurement data files. In Full Resolution products (i.e. at native instrument spatial resolution), these parameters are provided for each re-gridded pixel on the product image and for each removed pixel. In Reduced Resolution products (i.e. at a resolution four times coarser), the parameters are only provided on the product grid. Read more

OLCI L2 Land GIFAPAR, OTCI, IWV
Jan-2024
The OLCI Level-2 Land Reduced or Full Resolution products are outputs from the OLCI Level-2 processor and contain land and atmospheric geophysical products at Full and Reduced resolutions (i.e. ~300 m and 1.2 km). Each product provides as measurement data files: surface product as Green Instantaneous Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (GIFAPAR) and Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (OTCI), atmosphere by-products as Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) column and uncertainty estimates for all products. Read more

SLSTR L1b
Jan-2024
The SLSTR Level-1B product gathers, for each view and for each channel, the full-resolution geolocated radiometric measurements. For thermal IR and fire channels the radiometric measurements are expressed in Top Of Atmosphere brightness temperatures. In the case of visible / SWIR channels these measurements are expressed in TOA radiances. Read more

SLSTR L2 LST and FRP
Jan-2024
Two SLSTR Level-2 products are output by the SLSTR Level-2 processor and disseminated to all users: - Level-2 LST products providing land surface temperature - Level-2 FRP products providing global (over land and water) fire radiative power. The Land monitoring products include gridded land surface temperature generated on a wide 1km measuremrnet grid Read more

STM L1 Land (L1-A)
Jan-2024
The Sentinel-3 SRAL Level-1 product provides corrected and validated geophysical parameters (in Near Real Time, Short Time Critical and Non Time Critical timeliness) derived from the raw SRAL Level-0 data, along with metadata and data quality flags that enable the user to assess the reliability and suitability of the data for specific applications. The L1 Land products contain Tracking measurements in SAR (Ku band), LRM & Pseudo-LRM (Ku & C bands) mode. - L1A: Unpacked L0 complex echoes, sorted and calibrated. Read more

STM L2 Land (aka "Hydro-Cryo")
Jan-2024
The Sentinel-3 SRAL Level-2 product is a higher-level processed product (in Near Real Time, Short Time Critical Non Time Critical timeliness) that contains more detailed and refined geophysical parameters suitable for scientific and research applications. It contains advanced geophysical parameters such as sea surface height, significant wave height, and wind speed, that are derived from the SRAL Level-1 products using advanced processing algorithms and quality control procedures. The STM L2 land products for Hydro-Cryo monitoring applications contain 1Hz and 20Hz Ku and C bands waveforms and parameters, retracking estimates over inland waters, sea-ice, land ice and continental land (in LRM/SAR/PLRM modes). Three independent Level 2 Thematic products are generated for Inland Waters, Sea-Ice and Land Ice. The Geophysical land and cryosphere parameters included are: ● Water Surface Height ● Altimeter Range ● Surface Backscatter coefficient ● Inland Water Surface Height ● Ice Sheet Elevation ● Sea ice freeboard ● Sea ice concentration ● Snow Density and Depth Read more

SYNERGY L2 (OLCI & SLSTR)
Jan-2024
The SYN branch of SENTINEL-3 processing is a synergy of OLCI OL_1_EFR and SLSTR SL_1_RBT products. The SYN products are: - Surface Reflectance and Aerosol parameters over Land, - VGP: 1-km vegetation like data, Top of Atmosphere reflectances (on OLCI acquisition grid), - VG1: 1-km vegetation like data, world map fully atmosphere corrected, surface reflectance 1 day synthesis and NDVI, - VG10: 1-km vegetation like data, world map fully atmosphere corrected, surface reflectances 10 days synthesis and NDVI, - Global Aerosol parameter over land and sea on super pixel resolution (4.5 km x 4.5 km) Read more

OpenSearch Datasets Selected IDN OpenSearch Results (search all 76 )
Black Sea High Resolution SST L4 Analysis 0.0625 deg Resolution for 2019-09-18 (NCEI Accession 02135 ...
ESA Lakes Climate Change Initiative (Lakes_cci): Lake products, Version 1.0
ESA Lakes Climate Change Initiative (Lakes_cci): Lake products, Version 1.1
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global attenuation coefficient for do ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global attenuation coefficient for do ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global chlorophyll-a data products gr ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global chlorophyll-a data products gr ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global dataset of inherent optical pr ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global dataset of inherent optical pr ...
ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (Ocean_Colour_cci): Global ocean colour data products gri ...

Selected FedEO OpenSearch Results (view all 13 results: browser , table )
ESA Lakes Climate Change Initiative (Lakes_cci): Lake products, Version 1.0
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: The global mean level of the oceans is one of the most important indicators of...
ESA Lakes Climate Change Initiative (Lakes_cci): Lake products, Version 2.1
ESA Lakes Climate Change Initiative (Lakes_cci): Lake products, Version 1.1
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Global sea-level budget, Antarctic mass balance interpretation, Greenland mass...
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Model initialisation and evaluation, global warming. Reference: Allard et al....
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: The global mean level of the oceans is one of the most important indicators of...
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Global sea-level budget, Antarctic mass balance interpretation, Greenland mass...
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS:
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: reduction in uncertainty of the quantitative role of aerosols in climate forci...

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