OPERA Radiometric Terrain-Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 V1.0

OPERA/RTC/L2_V1/S1
Dataset Availability
2016-04-14T00:00:00Z–2026-04-30T07:49:27Z
Dataset Producer
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("OPERA/RTC/L2_V1/S1")
Cadence
1 Day
Tags
backscatter jpl nasa opera polarization radar sar satellite-imagery sentinel1-derived

Description

This product consists of radar backscatter normalized with respect to the topography. It maps signals related to the physical properties of ground scattering objects, such as surface roughness and soil moisture and/or vegetation. The OPERA RTC-S1 product is derived from Copernicus Sentinel-1 Interferometric Wide (IW) Single Look Complex (SLC) data with a near global scope and temporal sampling coincident with the availability of SLC data.

Each OPERA RTC-S1 product corresponds to a single S1 burst projected onto a pre-defined UTM/Polar stereographic map projection system map grid with a 30-meter spacing. 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 OPERA RTC-S1 product is normalized to the backscatter coefficient gamma0 obtained from the original radar brightness beta0 through radiometric terrain correction.

Due to the S1 mission’s narrow orbital tube, radar-geometry layers such as incidence angle, local incidence angle, number of looks, and RTC Area Normalization Factor (ANF) vary slightly over time for each position on the ground, and therefore are considered static. These static layers are provided separately from the OPERA RTC-S1 product, as they are produced only once or a limited number of times, to account for changes in the DEM, in the S1 orbit, or in the static-layers generation algorithm. The static layers are available in the associated OPERA Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 Static Layers dataset.

Bands

Bands

Pixel size: 30 meters (all bands)

Name Pixel Size Description
VV 30 meters

VV polarization radar backscatter normalized to gamma0.
VH 30 meters

VH polarization radar backscatter normalized to gamma0.
HV 30 meters

HV polarization radar backscatter normalized to gamma0.
HH 30 meters

HH polarization radar backscatter normalized to gamma0.
mask 30 meters

Mask layer containing valid/invalid, layover, and shadow classification computed using the RTC-S1 burst orbit, provided over the same geographic grid as the associated geocoded imagery.

mask Class Table

Value Color Description
0 #000000

Valid sample not affected by layover or shadow
1 #FF0000

Valid sample affected by shadow
2 #00FF00

Valid sample affected by layover
3 #FFFF00

Valid sample affected by layover and shadow
255 #FFFFFF

Invalid sample

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name Type Description
ABSOLUTE_ORBIT_NUMBER DOUBLE

Absolute orbit number
ACQUISITION_MODE STRING

Acquisition mode
BURST_ID STRING

Burst identification string
INPUT_L1_SLC_GRANULES STRING_LIST

List of input L1 SLC granules
INPUT_ORBIT_FILES STRING_LIST

List of input orbit files
INSTRUMENT_NAME STRING

Name of the instrument used to collect the remote sensing data provided in this product
LOOK_DIRECTION STRING

Look direction
ORBIT_PASS_DIRECTION STRING

Orbit pass direction
POLARIZATIONS STRING_LIST

The polarization bands available in the asset, a list with the valid values being: "VV", "VH", "HV" and "HH".
PROCESSING_DATETIME STRING

Product generation time in UTC. Format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
PROCESSING_TYPE STRING

Processing type. One of: "NOMINAL", "URGENT", "CUSTOM", or "UNDEFINED"
PRODUCT_VERSION STRING

Product version
QA_GEOMETRIC_ACCURACY_BIAS_X DOUBLE

An estimate of the localization error bias in the easting direction'
QA_GEOMETRIC_ACCURACY_BIAS_Y DOUBLE

An estimate of the localization error bias in the northing direction'
QA_GEOMETRIC_ACCURACY_STDDEV_X DOUBLE

An estimate of the localization error standard deviation in the easting direction
QA_GEOMETRIC_ACCURACY_STDDEV_Y DOUBLE

An estimate of the localization error standard deviation in the northing direction
SUB_SWATH_ID STRING

Sub-swath identifier
TRACK_NUMBER DOUBLE

Track number

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance

Citations

Citations:

  • NASA/JPL/OPERA. (2023). OPERA Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 validated product (Version 1) [Data set]. NASA Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. doi:10.5067/SNWG/OPERA_L2_RTC-S1_V1

DOIs

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var geometry = ee.Geometry.BBox(-18, 49, 8, 60);
var waterLandMask =
    ee.Image('NOAA/NGDC/ETOPO1').select('bedrock').gte(0.0).clip(geometry);

var rtc_s1 = ee.ImageCollection('OPERA/RTC/L2_V1/S1')
                 .filterDate('2025-10-25', '2025-11-01')
                 .filterBounds(geometry)
                 .filter(ee.Filter.listContains('POLARIZATIONS', 'VV'))
                 .mean()
                 .mask(waterLandMask);

Map.centerObject(geometry);
Map.addLayer(rtc_s1.select('VV'), {min: 0, max: 0.5}, 'VV');
Open in Code Editor
This product consists of radar backscatter normalized with respect to the topography. It maps signals related to the physical properties of ground scattering objects, such as surface roughness and soil moisture and/or vegetation. The OPERA RTC-S1 product is derived from Copernicus Sentinel-1 Interferometric Wide (IW) Single Look Complex (SLC) data …
OPERA/RTC/L2_V1/S1, backscatter,jpl,nasa,opera,polarization,radar,sar,satellite-imagery,sentinel1-derived
2016-04-14T00:00:00Z/2026-04-30T07:49:27Z
-60 -180 90 180
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