Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis
Started in April 2021, the Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory collects data from satellite radar and optical instruments to generate six product suites:
- a near-global Surface Water Extent product suite
- a near-global Surface Disturbance product suite
- a near-global Radiometric Terrain Corrected product
- a North America Coregistered Single Look complex product suite
- a North America Displacement product suite
- a North America Vertical Land Motion product suite
The first two are generated from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical data. The third, fourth are derived from SAR data only, while the fifth is generated from Interferometric SAR (InSAR) data . The sixth is generated from InSAR data fused to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data. Additionally, all OPERA products can be accessed through the links on our data products page.
The OPERA data products and time series are derived from measurements made by the instruments onboard the Sentinel-1 A/B, Sentinel-2 A/B, and Landsat-8/9 satellites, to be augmented by the measurements from the soon-to-be-launched NISAR and Sentinel-1 C satellites.
Clockwise starting from bottom left. Firth River Yukon, Water Data. Credit: USGS/John Jones, Lava boiling out of the Kilauea Volcano, Volcano Data. Credit: ASI/NASA/JPL-Caltech, Subsidence and uplift over New York City, Vertical Land Motion Data. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, Fire fighting helicopter carry water bucket to extinguish the forest fire, Fire Data. Credit: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA
The project is sponsored by NASA in response to the needs identified by the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG). SNWG was chartered in response to the joint Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) request to address challenges faced by US federal data-providing agencies in obtaining and aggregating space-based observations to meet the needs of their users. Every two years, the SNWG conducts an agency survey to identify gaps in the current NASA program of record and/or data sets that meet agency needs. In the 2018 biennial agency survey, surface water extent, surface disturbance, and surface displacement were identified among the top ten inter-agency needs. While in the 2020-2022 biennial agency survey, vertical land motion was identified as the top inter-agency need.