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Forest monitoring study highlights future Copernicus synergies

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September 27, 2024

ESA has published an article in the Sentinel Success Stories series featuring the article of Johannes Balling, Bart Slagter, Sietse van der Woude, Martin Herold and Johannes Reiche: ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 ScanSAR and Sentinel-1 Data for Timely Tropical Forest Disturbance Mapping: A Case Study for Sumatra, Indonesia.
The article highlights how current and future Copernicus missions will enhance Earth observation, with a particular focus on the synergy between Sentinel-1 C-band SAR and the upcoming ROSE-L L-band SAR.

Copernicus Sentinel-1 C-band radar data have long been used to track the health of the world’s forests. Now scientists have shown that combining these data with L-band satellite observations can improve the monitoring of forest disturbances, such as deforestation or wildfires, in tropical environments.

This promising finding – published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation – demonstrates the potential for future synergies between Sentinel-1 and ROSE-L, a planned Copernicus Sentinel Expansion Mission that will deliver L-band radar observations.