Analysis of multitemporal Sentinel-2 images in the framework of the ESA Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions

This paper focuses on the scientific preliminary results of the project “S2-4Sci Land and Water - Multitemporal Analysis” funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the framework of the Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM). The aim of the project is the development of advanced multitemporal methods tailored on the specific properties of S2 images. The Sentinel-2 (S2) constellation has a huge potential for multitemporal analysis, due to the increased geometrical resolution, the novel spectral capabilities, a swath width of 290Km and the short revisit time. Three main applications and methodological areas are investigated: i) land-cover maps updating, ii) land-cover change detection, and iii) time series analysis. The proposed approaches are briefly described and preliminary results obtained on S2 images are discussed.