OPERA Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 validated product (Version 1)

The Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) from Sentinel-1 validated product consists of Single Look Complex (SLC) images which contain both amplitude and phase information of the complex radar return. The amplitude is primarily determined by ground surface properties (e.g., terrain slope, surface roughness, and physical properties), and phase primarily represents the distance between the radar and ground targets corrected for the geometrical distance between the two based on the knowledge from Digital Elevation Model and platform’s position, i.e., the CSLC phase represents residual geometrical distance between the sensor and target, the atmospheric propagation delay and the target movements. The CSLC-S1 product is derived from Copernicus Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B Interferometric Wide (IW) SLC data.

The CSLC images are precisely aligned or “coregistered” to a pre-defined UTM/Polar stereographic map projection systems and posted at 5x10 m spacing in east and north direction, respectively. Each CSLC-S1 product corresponds to a single S1 burst and is distributed as a Hierarchical Data Format version 5 (HDF5) file following the CF-1.8 convention containing both data raster layers (e.g., geocoded complex backscatter, low-resolution correction look-up tables) and product metadata. OPERA CSLC-S1 products are available over North America which includes the USA and U.S. Territories, Canada within 200 km of the U.S. border, and all mainland countries from the southern U.S. border down to and including Panama.

Due to the S1 mission’s narrow orbital tube, radar-geometry layers vary slightly over time for each position on the ground, and therefore are considered static. These static layers are provided separately from the OPERA CLSLC-S1 product, as they are produced only once or a limited number of times. The static layers are available in the associated OPERA Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 Static Layers validated product (Version 1).

The OPERA CSLC-S1 product contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016-2026).

The OPERA project is funded by NASA’s Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) which provides data products developed to meet the needs of stakeholders from US government agencies.