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Full catalog/sentinel-1-ocn-wv
sentinel-1-ocn-wv·dataset

Open-ocean wave and wind data (Copernicus Wave Mode)

Sentinel-1 Level-2 Ocean (OCN): WV
land ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Focused on the open ocean, this gives the shape and direction of swell waves, the surface wind speed and direction, and how fast the sea surface moves relative to the satellite. It captures small radar snapshots spread across the oceans.

How it's made. Made by ESA Copernicus from Sentinel-1's C-band radar operating in Wave Mode, processed to Level-2 to derive wind, swell, and surface-velocity measurements.

How & where you'd use it. Feeds wave forecasting and ocean circulation models, and supports research on how winds and waves behave far from land.

What's measured

SentinelCopernicusESAOCNOceanSARC-BandEUECWVOSWRVL

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2015-01-30 → ongoing
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

This collection offers Sentinel-1 Level-2 Ocean (OCN) products captured in Wave Mode (WV). Level-2 OCN products are specifically processed radar data. These products consist of geo-located geophysical parameters derived from Sentinel-1 Level-1 SAR data and are composed of three components: an Ocean Swell Spectra (OSW) component, an Ocean Wind Field (OWI) component, and a Radial Velocity (RVL) component. The OWI component is a ground-range gridded estimate of the surface wind speed and direction at 10 m above the surface. The OSW component is a two-dimensional ocean surface swell spectrum and includes an estimate of wind speed and direction for each swell spectrum. The OSW component provides continuous measurements of SAR swell spectra at C-band. The RVL surface radial velocity component is a ground-range gridded difference between the measured Level-2 Doppler grid and the geometrical Doppler calculated from Level-1 data. The RVL component provides continuity with the ASAR Doppler grid. OCN products are generated from all four Sentinel-1 imaging modes. In SM mode, the OCN product contains all three components. In IW and EW modes, the OCN product contains only OWI and RVL. In WV mode, the OCN product contains only OSW and RVL.

Get the data

copernicus_access.py
# ESA Copernicus Data Space — open STAC API (free account)
from pystac_client import Client

cat = Client.open("https://stac.dataspace.copernicus.eu/v1")
search = cat.search(
    collections=["sentinel-1-ocn-wv"],   # add _cog or _nc for a format variant
    bbox=(-10, 35, 30, 60),             # your area (W,S,E,N)
    datetime="2024-01-01/2024-12-31",
)
items = list(search.items())            # then read assets with rioxarray / xarray
Browsing the Copernicus STAC is open; downloading bytes needs a free Copernicus Data Space account.