Prospects of Sentinel-1 for land applications

The Sentinel-1 mission is a polar-orbiting satellite constellation for the continuation of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications. Contrary to its predecessor instruments onboard of ENVISAT and RADARSAT, the Sentinel-1 satellites will be operated following a predefined and fixed baseline acquisition scenario. This will significantly facilitate the development of fully automatic processing chains for the generation of higher-level geophysical products and their uptake in applications. This paper gives an overview of the potential use of Sentinel-1 for land applications, discussing different land cover products (permanent water bodies, forest/non-forest, rice) and parameters of high relevance for hydrological monitoring (soil moisture, snow and freeze/thaw status, surface inundation).