What are all of the extra bands for?

I recently started exploring some Sentinel-3 Datasets, and I have noticed that they have a lot of extra that come with them. Is there a guide to what these are for and how to use them?

Some of the bands that I am seeing are(I am using * as a wildcard):

  • OLCI:
    • lambda*
    • FWHM*
    • solar_flux*
  • SLSTR
    • *exception*
    • x*
    • y*
    • Many more

Hi dear
You can use this document to explore and learning about bands.

Sentinel-3-SLSTR-Product-Data-Format-Specification-Level-1 (1).pdf (3.1 MB)

1 Like

@Mohammad_Gh. Thank you. I looked through both that document, and the one for the OLCI Sensor, but as far as I can tell, it just states that those bands are included. Could you point me to a document that tells me how I would use them?

I do not think it exists. In my opinion, you should study about different applications of remote sensing to find your desired or favorite field. I suggest you sites as an example.

https://www.esa-landcover-cci.org/

2 Likes

For the OLCI bands I can say that
The lambda bands provide the wavelength for each pixel. It is not the same all over the sensor. This is not always important to consider but there are cases.
FWMH bands define Full width at half maximum - Wikipedia
This gives characteristics of sensor and the measured signal. I think mostly used by experts for calibrating the sensor. I’m not sure.
solar_flux provides the emission from the sun at this day and pixel.

The SLSTR Exception bands provide a status flag. If something exceptional happend a flag is raised and it also indicates what happened.
The X and Y bands I can also not explain.

Actually all this should be explained in the official ESA documents you can find here
Sentinel-3 SLSTR Document Library - Sentinel Online (esa.int)
and
Sentinel-3 OLCI Document Library - User Guides - Sentinel Online (esa.int)

1 Like

@marpet That gives me a great springboard on what this is. Will have to start reading in depth and learning more about this stuff when I have some time.

There is a good starting point provided by the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation.
Remote Sensing Tutorials | Natural Resources Canada (nrcan.gc.ca)

I’ve just added this link to our tutorial section too.