Minimize Radiometric Resolutions

SENTINEL-2 Radiometric Resolutions

The 13 spectral bands of Sentinel-2 range from the Visible (VNIR) and Near Infra-Red (NIR) to the Short Wave Infra-Red (SWIR):
  • 4 x 10 metre Bands: the three classical RGB bands ((Blue (~493nm), Green (560nm), and Red (~665nm)) and a Near Infra-Red (~833nm) band;
  • 6 x 20 metre Bands: 4 narrow Bands in the VNIR vegetation red edge spectral domain (~704nm,~740nm, ~783nm and ~865nm) and 2 wider SWIR bands (~1610nm and ~2190nm) for applications such as snow/ice/cloud detection, or vegetation moisture stress assessment;
  • 3 x 60 metre Bands mainly focused towards cloud screening and atmospheric correction (~443nm for aerosols and ~945nm for water vapour) and cirrus detection (~1374nm).

Radiometric resolution is the capacity of the instrument to distinguish differences in light intensity or reflectance. The greater the radiometric resolution, the more accurate the sensed image will be.

Radiometric resolution is routinely expressed as a bit number, typically in the range of 8 to 16 bits. The radiometric resolution of the MSI instrument is 12 bit, enabling the image to be acquired over a range of 0 to 4095 potential light intensity values. The radiometric accuracy is less than 5% (goal 3%). Radiometric resolution is also dependent upon the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the detector.

NOTE: The Bandwidth (nm) in the Tables below is the values measured at Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM).

 

Table 1: 10 m Spatial Resolution Bands and associated Signal to Noise ratio (SNR)

Band number

S2A

S2B

Lref

(reference radiance)

(W m−2 sr−1 μm−1)

SNR @ Lref

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

2

492.4

66

492.1

66

128

154

3

559.8

36

559.0

36

128

168

4

664.6

31

 664.9

31

108

142

8

832.8

106

832.9

 106

103

174

 

Table 2: 20 metre Spatial Resolution Bands and associated Signal to Noise ratio (SNR)

Band number

S2A

S2B

Lref

(reference radiance)

(W m−2 sr−1 μm−1)

SNR @ Lref

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

5

704.1

 15

703.8

 16

74.5

117

6

740.5

 15

739.1

15

68

89

7

782.8

20

779.7

20

67

105

8a

864.7

21

864.0

22

52.5

72

11

1613.7

91

1610.4

94

4

100

12

2202.4

175

2185.7

 185

1.5

100

Table 3: 60 metre Spatial Resolution Bands and associated Signal to Noise ratio (SNR)

Band number

S2A

S2B

Lref

(reference radiance)

(W m−2 sr−1 μm−1)

SNR @ Lref

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

Central wavelength (nm)

Bandwidth (nm)

1

442.7

 21

442.2

 21

129

129

9

945.1

 20

943.2

 21

9

114

10

1373.5

31

1376.9

30

6

50

 

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