Sentinel-2 MSI: MultiSpectral Instrument, Level-2A [deprecated]

Dataset Availability: 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z–2024-12-20T15:25:22Z
Dataset Provider: European Union/ESA/Copernicus
Earth Engine Snippet: ee.ImageCollection("COPERNICUS/S2_SR")

Revisit Interval: 5 Days
Tags: copernicus

esa

eu

msi

reflectance

sentinel

sr

Description

See also collection COPERNICUS/S2_SR_HARMONIZED that shifts data with PROCESSING_BASELINE '04.00' or above (after 2022-01-25) to be in the same range as in older scenes.

Sentinel-2 is a wide-swath, high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging mission supporting Copernicus Land Monitoring studies, including the monitoring of vegetation, soil and water cover, as well as observation of inland waterways and coastal areas.

The Sentinel-2 L2 data are downloaded from CDSE. They were computed by running sen2cor. WARNING: 2017-2018 L2 coverage in the EE collection is not yet global.

The assets contain 12 UINT16 spectral bands representing SR scaled by 10000 (unlike in L1 data, there is no B10). There are also several more L2-specific bands (see band list for details). See the Sentinel-2 User Handbook for details.

QA60 is a bitmask band that contained rasterized cloud mask polygons until 2022-01-25, when these polygons stopped being produced. Starting 2024-02-28, legacy-consistent QA60 bands are constructed from the MSK_CLASSI cloud classification bands. For more details, see the full explanation of how cloud masks are computed.

EE asset ids for Sentinel-2 L2 assets have the following format: COPERNICUS/S2_SR/20151128T002653_20151128T102149_T56MNN. Here the first numeric part represents the sensing date and time, the second numeric part represents the product generation date and time, and the final 6-character string is a unique granule identifier indicating its UTM grid reference (see MGRS).

For datasets to assist with cloud and/or cloud shadow detection, see COPERNICUS/S2_CLOUD_PROBABILITY and GOOGLE/CLOUD_SCORE_PLUS/V1/S2_HARMONIZED.

For more details on Sentinel-2 radiometric resolution, see this page.

Bands

Bands

Name	Units	Min	Max	Scale	Pixel Size	Wavelength	Description
`B1`				0.0001	60 meters	443.9nm (S2A) / 442.3nm (S2B)	Aerosols
`B2`				0.0001	10 meters	496.6nm (S2A) / 492.1nm (S2B)	Blue
`B3`				0.0001	10 meters	560nm (S2A) / 559nm (S2B)	Green
`B4`				0.0001	10 meters	664.5nm (S2A) / 665nm (S2B)	Red
`B5`				0.0001	20 meters	703.9nm (S2A) / 703.8nm (S2B)	Red Edge 1
`B6`				0.0001	20 meters	740.2nm (S2A) / 739.1nm (S2B)	Red Edge 2
`B7`				0.0001	20 meters	782.5nm (S2A) / 779.7nm (S2B)	Red Edge 3
`B8`				0.0001	10 meters	835.1nm (S2A) / 833nm (S2B)	NIR
`B8A`				0.0001	20 meters	864.8nm (S2A) / 864nm (S2B)	Red Edge 4
`B9`				0.0001	60 meters	945nm (S2A) / 943.2nm (S2B)	Water vapor
`B11`				0.0001	20 meters	1613.7nm (S2A) / 1610.4nm (S2B)	SWIR 1
`B12`				0.0001	20 meters	2202.4nm (S2A) / 2185.7nm (S2B)	SWIR 2
`AOT`				0.001	10 meters		Aerosol Optical Thickness
`WVP`	cm			0.001	10 meters		Water Vapor Pressure. The height the water would occupy if the vapor were condensed into liquid and spread evenly across the column.
`SCL`		1	11		20 meters		Scene Classification Map (The "No Data" value of 0 is masked out)
`TCI_R`					10 meters		True Color Image, Red channel
`TCI_G`					10 meters		True Color Image, Green channel
`TCI_B`					10 meters		True Color Image, Blue channel
`MSK_CLDPRB`		0	100		20 meters		Cloud Probability Map (missing in some products)
`MSK_SNWPRB`		0	100		10 meters		Snow Probability Map (missing in some products)
`QA10`					10 meters		Always empty
`QA20`					20 meters		Always empty
`QA60`					60 meters		Cloud mask. Masked out between 2022-01-25 to 2024-02-28 inclusive.
Bitmask for QA60 Bits 0-9: Unused Bit 10: Opaque clouds 0: No opaque clouds 1: Opaque clouds present Bit 11: Cirrus clouds 0: No cirrus clouds 1: Cirrus clouds present
`MSK_CLASSI_OPAQUE`					60 meters		Opaque clouds classification band (0=no clouds, 1=clouds). Masked out before February 2024.
`MSK_CLASSI_CIRRUS`					60 meters		Cirrus clouds classification band (0=no clouds, 1=clouds). Masked out before February 2024.
`MSK_CLASSI_SNOW_ICE`					60 meters		Snow/ice classification band (0=no snow/ice, 1=snow/ice). Masked out before February 2024.

SCL Class Table

Value	Color	Description
1	#ff0004	Saturated or defective
2	#868686	Dark Area Pixels
3	#774b0a	Cloud Shadows
4	#10d22c	Vegetation
5	#ffff52	Bare Soils
6	#0000ff	Water
7	#818181	Clouds Low Probability / Unclassified
8	#c0c0c0	Clouds Medium Probability
9	#f1f1f1	Clouds High Probability
10	#bac5eb	Cirrus
11	#52fff9	Snow / Ice

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name	Type	Description
AOT_RETRIEVAL_ACCURACY	DOUBLE	Accuracy of Aerosol Optical thickness model
CLOUDY_PIXEL_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Granule-specific cloudy pixel percentage taken from the original metadata
CLOUD_COVERAGE_ASSESSMENT	DOUBLE	Cloudy pixel percentage for the whole archive that contains this granule. Taken from the original metadata
CLOUDY_SHADOW_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as cloud shadow
DARK_FEATURES_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as dark features or shadows
DATASTRIP_ID	STRING	Unique identifier of the datastrip Product Data Item (PDI)
DATATAKE_IDENTIFIER	STRING	Uniquely identifies a given Datatake. The ID contains the Sentinel-2 satellite, start date and time, absolute orbit number, and processing baseline.
DATATAKE_TYPE	STRING	MSI operation mode
DEGRADED_MSI_DATA_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of degraded MSI and ancillary data
FORMAT_CORRECTNESS	STRING	Synthesis of the On-Line Quality Control (OLQC) checks performed at granule (Product_Syntax) and datastrip (Product Syntax and DS_Consistency) levels
GENERAL_QUALITY	STRING	Synthesis of the OLQC checks performed at the datastrip level (Relative_Orbit_Number)
GENERATION_TIME	DOUBLE	Product generation time
GEOMETRIC_QUALITY	STRING	Synthesis of the OLQC checks performed at the datastrip level (Attitude_Quality_Indicator)
GRANULE_ID	STRING	Unique identifier of the granule PDI (PDI_ID)
HIGH_PROBA_CLOUDS_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as high probability clouds
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B1	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B1 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B2	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B2 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B3	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B3 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B4	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B4 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B5	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B5 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B6	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B6 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B7	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B7 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B8	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B8 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B8A	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B8a and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B9	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B9 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B10	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B10 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B11	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B11 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_AZIMUTH_ANGLE_B12	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence azimuth angle average for band B12 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B1	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B1 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B2	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B2 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B3	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B3 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B4	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B4 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B5	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B5 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B6	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B6 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B7	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B7 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B8	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B8 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B8A	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B8a and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B9	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B9 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B10	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B10 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B11	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B11 and for all detectors
MEAN_INCIDENCE_ZENITH_ANGLE_B12	DOUBLE	Mean value containing viewing incidence zenith angle average for band B12 and for all detectors
MEAN_SOLAR_AZIMUTH_ANGLE	DOUBLE	Mean value containing sun azimuth angle average for all bands and detectors
MEAN_SOLAR_ZENITH_ANGLE	DOUBLE	Mean value containing sun zenith angle average for all bands and detectors
MEDIUM_PROBA_CLOUDS_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as medium probability clouds
MGRS_TILE	STRING	US-Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) tile
NODATA_PIXEL_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of No Data pixels
NOT_VEGETATED_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as non-vegetated
PROCESSING_BASELINE	STRING	Configuration baseline used at the time of the product generation in terms of processor software version and major Ground Image Processing Parameters (GIPP) version
PRODUCT_ID	STRING	The full id of the original Sentinel-2 product
RADIATIVE_TRANSFER_ACCURACY	DOUBLE	Accuracy of radiative transfer model
RADIOMETRIC_QUALITY	STRING	Based on the OLQC reports contained in the Datastrips/QI_DATA with RADIOMETRIC_QUALITY checklist name
REFLECTANCE_CONVERSION_CORRECTION	DOUBLE	Earth-Sun distance correction factor
SATURATED_DEFECTIVE_PIXEL_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of saturated or defective pixels
SENSING_ORBIT_DIRECTION	STRING	Imaging orbit direction
SENSING_ORBIT_NUMBER	DOUBLE	Imaging orbit number
SENSOR_QUALITY	STRING	Synthesis of the OLQC checks performed at granule (Missing_Lines, Corrupted_ISP, and Sensing_Time) and datastrip (Degraded_SAD and Datation_Model) levels
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B1	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B1
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B2	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B2
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B3	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B3
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B4	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B4
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B5	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B5
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B6	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B6
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B7	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B7
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B8	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B8
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B8A	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B8a
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B9	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B9
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B10	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B10
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B11	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B11
SOLAR_IRRADIANCE_B12	DOUBLE	Mean solar exoatmospheric irradiance for band B12
SNOW_ICE_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as snow or ice
SPACECRAFT_NAME	STRING	Sentinel-2 spacecraft name: Sentinel-2A, Sentinel-2B
THIN_CIRRUS_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as thin cirrus clouds
UNCLASSIFIED_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of unclassified pixels
VEGETATION_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as vegetation
WATER_PERCENTAGE	DOUBLE	Percentage of pixels classified as water
WATER_VAPOUR_RETRIEVAL_ACCURACY	DOUBLE	Declared accuracy of the Water Vapor model

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

The use of Sentinel data is governed by the Copernicus Sentinel Data Terms and Conditions.

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

/**
 * Function to mask clouds using the Sentinel-2 QA band
 * @param {ee.Image} image Sentinel-2 image
 * @return {ee.Image} cloud masked Sentinel-2 image
 */
function maskS2clouds(image) {
  var qa = image.select('QA60');

  // Bits 10 and 11 are clouds and cirrus, respectively.
  var cloudBitMask = 1 << 10;
  var cirrusBitMask = 1 << 11;

  // Both flags should be set to zero, indicating clear conditions.
  var mask = qa.bitwiseAnd(cloudBitMask).eq(0)
      .and(qa.bitwiseAnd(cirrusBitMask).eq(0));

  return image.updateMask(mask).divide(10000);
}

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('COPERNICUS/S2_SR')
                  .filterDate('2020-01-01', '2020-01-30')
                  // Pre-filter to get less cloudy granules.
                  .filter(ee.Filter.lt('CLOUDY_PIXEL_PERCENTAGE',20))
                  .map(maskS2clouds);

var visualization = {
  min: 0.0,
  max: 0.3,
  bands: ['B4', 'B3', 'B2'],
};

Map.setCenter(83.277, 17.7009, 12);

Map.addLayer(dataset.mean(), visualization, 'RGB');

Python setup

See the Python Environment page for information on the Python API and using geemap for interactive development.

import ee
import geemap.core as geemap

Colab (Python)

def mask_s2_clouds(image):
  """Masks clouds in a Sentinel-2 image using the QA band.

  Args:
      image (ee.Image): A Sentinel-2 image.

  Returns:
      ee.Image: A cloud-masked Sentinel-2 image.
  """
  qa = image.select('QA60')

  # Bits 10 and 11 are clouds and cirrus, respectively.
  cloud_bit_mask = 1 << 10
  cirrus_bit_mask = 1 << 11

  # Both flags should be set to zero, indicating clear conditions.
  mask = (
      qa.bitwiseAnd(cloud_bit_mask)
      .eq(0)
      .And(qa.bitwiseAnd(cirrus_bit_mask).eq(0))
  )

  return image.updateMask(mask).divide(10000)


dataset = (
    ee.ImageCollection('COPERNICUS/S2_SR')
    .filterDate('2020-01-01', '2020-01-30')
    # Pre-filter to get less cloudy granules.
    .filter(ee.Filter.lt('CLOUDY_PIXEL_PERCENTAGE', 20))
    .map(mask_s2_clouds)
)

visualization = {
    'min': 0.0,
    'max': 0.3,
    'bands': ['B4', 'B3', 'B2'],
}

m = geemap.Map()
m.set_center(83.277, 17.7009, 12)
m.add_layer(dataset.mean(), visualization, 'RGB')
m

Open in Code Editor

Sentinel-2 MSI: MultiSpectral Instrument, Level-2A [deprecated]

See also collection COPERNICUS/S2_SR_HARMONIZED that shifts data with PROCESSING_BASELINE '04.00' or above (after 2022-01-25) to be in the same range as in older scenes. Sentinel-2 is a wide-swath, high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging mission supporting Copernicus Land Monitoring studies, including the monitoring of vegetation, soil and water cover, as well as observation …

COPERNICUS/S2_SR, copernicus,esa,eu,msi,reflectance,sentinel,sr

2017-03-28T00:00:00Z/2024-12-20T15:25:22Z

-56.0 -180.0 83.0 180.0

Google Earth Engine

https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets