As we continue advancing toward better, smarter agricultural monitoring across Europe, this edition focuses on a key innovation area: Satellite Data Augmentation. Satellite observations are a cornerstone of digital agriculture. However, cloud cover, coarse resolution, and data quality can limit their utility. That's why the ScaleAgData project invests in innovative tools to improve the resolution, consistency, and usability of Earth Observation (EO) data. From sharpening Sentinel and hyperspectral data to generating cloud-free time series, our goal is to bring satellite imagery closer to the reality on the ground, enhancing its usability and enabling more informed, data-driven decisions in agriculture.
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In this ScaleAgData Newsletter:
Innovation area: Satellite Data Augmentation
Recent News items
Upcoming events
Sharper and Cloud-Free Satellite Imagery for Smarter Agricultural Decisions
Super-resolution & data fusion tools sharpen Sentinel and other satellite data, enabling better decision-making and boosting agricultural efficiency through enhanced spatial detail and improved data usability.
ICCS's Super-Resolution Tools
A suite of Super-Resolution tools is improving the spatial and analytical performance of key EO products.
Sentinel-2 Super-Resolution
The Sentinel-2 Super-Resolution tool upgrades the 20 m and 60 m bands of Sentinel-2 to 10 m resolution.
Fig. 1 Sentinel 2 super-resolved images
Sentinel-3 SLSTR Thermal Sharpening
The Sentinel-3 SLSTR Sharpening tool enhances thermal satellite data by applying advanced sharpening techniques that integrate high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. Using twelve super-resolved Sentinel-2 bands and one thermal band from Sentinel-3 SLSTR, this method produces land surface temperature (LST) maps with a refined 10 m spatial resolution offering greater precision for environmental monitoring and heat-related analysis.
Fig. 2 Sentinel 3 sharpened SLSTR thermal image
PRISMA Pan-Sharpening
To significantly enhance PRISMA's hyperspectral data (30 m), the PRISMA Pan-Sharpening tool applies super-resolution and pan-sharpening techniques. By integrating the high-resolution (5 m) panchromatic band included in the PRISMA dataset, it refines the native 30 m hyperspectral data, resulting in spectrally rich imagery with much finer spatial detail. Ideal for advanced environmental analysis and precision applications.
Fig. 3 PRISMA hyperspectral image pan-sharpened
Cloud-Free Satellite Images
CropSAR 2D
In 2019, VITO released CropSAR, a groundbreaking technology that fuses Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 optical satellite data to generate cloud-free time series of key biophysical parameters such as NDVI, fAPAR and fCover at field level. Building on this success, we recently launched CropSAR 2D, a pixel-based version that delivers cloud-free image time series at 10 m resolution every 5 days. This enables continuous, high-resolution crop performance monitoring at sub-field level. Beyond agricultural applications, the enhanced CropSAR service is also well-suited for a wide range of use cases that require consistent vegetation time series across large areas. Additionally, it delivers cloud-free RGB and near-infrared (NIR) image time series, further extending its value for diverse monitoring and analysis needs.
Fig. 4 Comparison of native Sentinel-2 with frequent cloud cover (left panel) and CropSAR 2D generated equivalent without clouds (right panel)
"CropSAR 2D offers public authorities a powerful and valuable tool to monitor our rapidly changing environment and to quantitatively assess progress toward the objectives of the European Green Deal. Beyond its direct applications in agriculture, the service supports evidence-based policymaking in areas such as land-use planning, biodiversity, protection, water management, and climate adaptations. For the Flemish government and its agencies like Digital Flanders, it enables smarter governance, enhances transparency, and reinforces Flanders' commitment to sustainable development and digital innovation."
Jo Van Valckenborgh
Programme Manager Earth Observation Data Science
Digitaal Vlaanderen
Testing Super-Resolution tools and CropSAR 2D images in the RILs
The mentioned super-resolution tools and CropSAR 2D products are being validated in collaboration with the ScaleAgData Yield Monitoring Research and Innovation Labs (RILs). UGent will investigate the use of super-resolution LST maps for potato tare estimation by analyzing their correlation with soil moisture and tare weight measured at various locations in the test fields. LUKE and VITO will assess whether their winter wheat digital twin and potato yield estimation model, respectively, can be improved by adding Sentinel 2 super-resolution products and LST products as inputs to the models.
LUKE will also investigate the use of cloud-free CropSAR 2D fAPAR images as input for a Digital Twin that estimates potential nitrogen uptake and yield for winter wheat fields in Belgium and Finland. By integrating satellite data such as CropSAR 2D, the Digital Twin can be more closely aligned with real-world field conditions, enhancing its accuracy and reliability for data-driven decision-making.
Additional use cases are being explored across the other ScaleAgData RILs, to expand their applicability, value and impact in agricultural monitoring.
Recent News
ScaleAgData at LPS25
Throughout ESA's LPS25 in Vienna, ScaleAgData was presented during presentations by DHI, IFAPA and VITO Remote Sensing.
Would you like to learn about upcoming events focused on the latest innovative data technologies for managing agricultural production and monitoring agricultural environments?
VITO is the project coordinator of the ScaleAgData consortium and will also contribute significantly to the 'product and service development', the RI Lab on Yield monitoring as well as the entire communication segment of the project. As a technology provider, VITO will bring data products and innovative solutions to merge sensor data into the data products. As communication lead, VITO will be managing the ScaleAgData website, social media channels as well as these digital newsletters. Feel free to contact us via scaleagdata@vito.be.
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